counterpoise
English edit
Etymology edit
From Old French contrepois, contrepeser, later assimilated to poise.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
counterpoise (plural counterpoises)
- 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
- 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:
- 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.
- The relation of two weights or forces which balance each other; equilibrium
- Synonym: equiponderance
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
a weight sufficient to balance another — see counterbalance
an equal power or force acting in opposition — see counterbalance
the relation of two weights or forces which balance each other; equilibrium — see counterbalance
Verb edit
counterpoise (third-person singular simple present counterpoises, present participle counterpoising, simple past and past participle counterpoised)
- To act against with equal weight; to equal in weight; to balance the weight of; to counterbalance.
- 1644, Kenelm Digby, Two Treatises:
- Weights, counterpoising one another.
- To act against with equal power; to balance.
- 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:
- So many freeholders of English […] will be able to beard, and to counterpoise the rest.
Translations edit
to act against with equal weight; to equal in weight — see counterbalance
to act against with equal power; to balance — see counterbalance