Both Uses of
poise
in
Jane Eyre
- I did so, not at first aware what was his intention; but when I saw him lift and poise the book and stand in act to hurl it, I instinctively started aside with a cry of alarm: not soon enough, however; the volume was flung, it hit me, and I fell, striking my head against the door and cutting it.†
p. 13.6
- She, too, was attired in oriental fashion: a crimson scarf tied sash-like round the waist: an embroidered handkerchief knotted about her temples; her beautifully-moulded arms bare, one of them upraised in the act of supporting a pitcher, poised gracefully on her head.†
p. 213.5 *
Definitions:
-
(1)
(poise) calm, confident, and in control—especially in movement, behavior, or when ready to act
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely, poise is a technical word referencing a unit of dynamic viscosity.