Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
counterpoise en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈkaʊntə(ɹ)ˌpɔɪz/
Etymology
From Old French contrepois, contrepeser, later assimilated to poise.
Meanings
-
A weight sufficient to balance another, for example in the opposite end of scales; an equal weight.
-
An effect of equal power or force acting in opposition; a force sufficient to balance another force or influence
This necessary counterpoise, the affectionate and simple-minded will readily conceive, would arise to Louisa from the absence of those "dear familiar faces" which had hitherto constituted her world.
1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 200:
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The relation of two weights or forces which balance each other; equilibrium
Forms
Deriveds
counterpoise-lift
Synonyms
equiponderance
counterpoise en · VERB
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈkaʊntə(ɹ)ˌpɔɪz/
Etymology
From Old French contrepois, contrepeser, later assimilated to poise.
Meanings
-
To act against with equal weight; to equal in weight; to balance the weight of; to counterbalance.
Weights, counterpoising one another.
1644, Kenelme [i.e., Kenelm] Digby, Two Treatises. In the One of which, the Nature of Bodies; in the Other, the Nature of Mans Soule; is Looked into: In Way of Discovery, of the Immortality of Reasonable Soules, Paris: […] Gilles Blaizot, →OCLC:
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To act against with equal power; to balance.
So many freeholders of English […]will be able to beard, and to counterpoise the rest.
1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:
Forms