Both Uses of
poise
in
Main Street
- He became a glorified floor-walker, greeting the men with new poise, no longer coyly subservient to pretty women.†
Chpt 21 *
- The thing she gained in Washington was not information about office-systems and labor unions but renewed courage, that amiable contempt called poise.†
Chpt 37
Definition:
-
(poise) calm and in control -- as in "shows poise under pressure"
and/or:
prepared for action -- as in "poised for action" -- (sometimes suspended or hovering as in "a finger poised over the mute button")
and/or:
confident and graceful in movement -- as in "the poise and balance of a dancer"