# posse
## English
### Etymology

Ellipsis of posse comitatus.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈpɒ.si/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (US) IPA: /ˈpɑ.si/
* Rhymes: -ɒsi

### Noun

posse (plural posses)
* A group or company of people, originally especially one having hostile intent; a throng, a crowd. [from 17th c.]
** 1972, Mortimer J. Adler with Charles Van Doren, chapter 3, in How to Read a Book, Touchstone September 2014 edition, New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, →OCLC, page 23:It is traditional in America to criticize the schools; for more than a century, parents, self-styled experts, and educators themselves have attacked and indicted the educational system. No aspect of schooling has been more severely criticized than reading instruction. The current books have a long ancestry, and every innovation carries in its train a posse of suspicious and, one feels, unpersuadable observers.
* (now historical, in later use chiefly US) A group of people summoned to help law enforcement. [from 17th c.]
    Coordinate term: vigilante
** 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:He […] no sooner set his nose within the room to which he was directed, than the constable and his posse sprung upon him, before he had the least intimation of his design, or any opportunity of acting in his own defence.
** 1986, Donald R. Lavash, Sheriff William Brady, Tragic Hero of the Lincoln County War, Sunstone Press, →ISBN, page 77:Mathews then appointed Morton as a deputy sheriff and after a posse had been selected, they went in pursuit of the criminals. Within a few hours, the posse overtook the thieves.
** 2013, Andrew C. Isenberg, Wyatt Earp: A Vigilante Life, Hill and Wang, →ISBN, page 165:While Wyatt dismounted and aimed his shotgun at Brocius, the rest of his posse retreated.
* (US) A search party.
* (US, Jamaica, slang) A criminal gang. [from 20th c.]
** 1997, Michael D. Lyman, Organized Crime, Prentice Hall, page 287:Jamaican posses can be traced back to the Jamaican neighborhoods, and posse names correspond to the names of each neighborhood in which the gangs operate.
* (colloquial) A group of (especially young) people seen as constituting a peer group or band of associates; a gang, a group of friends. [from 20th c.]
** 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 4:Hey, sir? Sir, excuse me?” The blonde was calling out to him, in imperious tones that insisted on a reply. […] She was breaking a rule of big-city life, breaking it brazenly, sure of her power, confident of her turf and posse, fearing nothing.
** 2014, April Boyd-Noronha, The Soul of a Single Parent: How to Snapback and Get Your SWAG On, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 77:But the few friends that I DO have are my “ride or die” chicks—my posse.

#### Derived terms

* pussy posse

#### Related terms

* in posse

#### Translations
### Further reading

* “posse”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* posse comitatus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* Jamaican posse on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* speos, sopes, s'pose, POSes, ESOPs, poses, spose, pesos

## Finnish
### Etymology

Borrowed from English posse.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈposːe/, [ˈpo̞s̠ːe̞]
* Rhymes: -osːe
* Hyphenation: pos‧se

### Noun

posse (slang)
* posse, crew, gang

#### Declension

Possessive forms of posse (Kotus type 8/nalle, no gradation) :
first-person singular possessor
singular
plural
nominative
posseni
posseni
accusative
nom.
posseni
posseni
gen.
posseni
genitive
posseni
possejeni posseini $^{rare}$
partitive
posseani
possejani
inessive
possessani
posseissani
elative
possestani
posseistani
illative
posseeni
posseihini
adessive
possellani
posseillani
ablative
posseltani
posseiltani
allative
posselleni
posseilleni
essive
possenani
posseinani
translative
possekseni
posseikseni
abessive
possettani
posseittani
instructive
comitative
—posseineni
second-person singular possessor
singular
plural
nominative
possesi
possesi
accusative
nom.
possesi
possesi
gen.
possesi
genitive
possesi
possejesi posseisi $^{rare}$
partitive
posseasi
possejasi
inessive
possessasi
posseissasi
elative
possestasi
posseistasi
illative
posseesi
posseihisi
adessive
possellasi
posseillasi
ablative
posseltasi
posseiltasi
allative
possellesi
posseillesi
essive
possenasi
posseinasi
translative
posseksesi
posseiksesi
abessive
possettasi
posseittasi
instructive
comitative
—posseinesi
first-person plural possessor
singular
plural
nominative
possemme
possemme
accusative
nom.
possemme
possemme
gen.
possemme
genitive
possemme
possejemme posseimme $^{rare}$
partitive
posseamme
possejamme
inessive
possessamme
posseissamme
elative
possestamme
posseistamme
illative
posseemme
posseihimme
adessive
possellamme
posseillamme
ablative
posseltamme
posseiltamme
allative
possellemme
posseillemme
essive
possenamme
posseinamme
translative
posseksemme
posseiksemme
abessive
possettamme
posseittamme
instructive
comitative
—posseinemme
second-person plural possessor
singular
plural
nominative
possenne
possenne
accusative
nom.
possenne
possenne
gen.
possenne
genitive
possenne
possejenne posseinne $^{rare}$
partitive
posseanne
possejanne
inessive
possessanne
posseissanne
elative
possestanne
posseistanne
illative
posseenne
posseihinne
adessive
possellanne
posseillanne
ablative
posseltanne
posseiltanne
allative
possellenne
posseillenne
essive
possenanne
posseinanne
translative
posseksenne
posseiksenne
abessive
possettanne
posseittanne
instructive
comitative
—posseinenne
third-person possessor
singular
plural
nominative
possensa
possensa
accusative
nom.
possensa
possensa
gen.
possensa
genitive
possensa
possejensa posseinsa $^{rare}$
partitive
posseaan posseansa
possejaan possejansa
inessive
possessaan possessansa
posseissaan posseissansa
elative
possestaan possestansa
posseistaan posseistansa
illative
posseensa
posseihinsa
adessive
possellaan possellansa
posseillaan posseillansa
ablative
posseltaan posseltansa
posseiltaan posseiltansa
allative
posselleen possellensa
posseilleen posseillensa
essive
possenaan possenansa
posseinaan posseinansa
translative
possekseen posseksensa
posseikseen posseiksensa
abessive
possettaan possettansa
posseittaan posseittansa
instructive
comitative
—posseineen posseinensa :

### Further reading

* “posse”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

## Jamaican Creole
### Etymology

From English posse.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈpa.sɪ/
* Hyphenation: po‧sse

### Noun

posse (plural posse dem, quantified posse)
* criminal crew; gang; posse
    Nuh walk inna posse, mi nuh walk inna gang.I don't belong to any criminal crews. I don't belong to any gangs.

#### See also

* backitive
* crew
* Klansman
* One Order
* Shower Posse

## Latin
### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈpos.se/, [ˈpɔs̠ːɛ]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈpos.se/, [ˈpɔsːe]

### Verb

posse
* present active infinitive of possum (“to be able (to)”)

### Noun

posse n (indeclinable)
* power, ability
* potentiality, capability of being
* (Late Latin) force, body of men
* (Medieval Latin) territory, dominion

### References

* “"possum", see "Posse as subst. (poet.)"”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* posse in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. (ambiguous) to be scarcely able to restrain one's laughter: risum tenere vix posse (ambiguous) to be scarcely able to restrain one's laughter: risum aegre continere posse (ambiguous) to be hardly able to restrain one's tears: lacrimas tenere non posse (ambiguous) to be hardly able to restrain one's tears: fletum cohibere non posse (ambiguous) to be unable to speak for emotion: prae lacrimis loqui non posse (ambiguous) to be unable to sleep: somnum capere non posse (ambiguous) to have great influence with a person; to have considerable weight: multum auctoritate valere, posse apud aliquem (ambiguous) to have great weight as a speaker: multum dicendo valere, posse (ambiguous) to be unable to say all one wants: verbis non omnia exsequi posse (ambiguous) to have a powerful navy: navibus plurimum posse

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin posse (“power, ability”).

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈpɔ.si/
* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈpɔ.si/
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /ˈpɔ.se/
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈpɔ.sɨ/
* Hyphenation: pos‧se

### Noun

posse f (plural posses)
* possession, land
** 1977, Clarice Lispector, A hora da estrela [The Hour of the Star]:Sei que há moças que vendem o corpo, única posse real, em troca de um bom jantar em vez de um sanduíche de mortadela.I know there are ladies who sell their bodies, their only real belonging, in exchange for a nice dinner instead of a baloney sandwich.
* (uncountable) ownership
* (uncountable, politics) command
** 2015 November 26, São José Almeida, “Cavaco deverá sublinhar desafios ao dar posse a Costa”, in Público‎:No Palácio da Ajuda, tomarão posse todos os membros do Governo, os 17 ministros e os 41 secretários de Estado, numa cerimónia conjunta à imagem do que aconteceu a 30 de Outubro, com o XX Governo, liderado por Pedro Passos Coelho.At the Palace of Ajuda, all members of the Government — the 17 ministers and the 41 secretaries of State — will be sworn in with a cerimony complementing the one of October 30th, with the 20th Government, lead by Pedro Passos Coelho.