posse

From Medieval Latin posse comitatus.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒ.si/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑ.si/
• Rhymes: -ɒsi

posse (plural posses)

1. (US) A group of people summoned to help law enforcement.
2. (US) A search party.
3. (US, Jamaica) A criminal gang.
4. (by extension) A group of associates.

• vigilante

• ESOPs, pesos, poses, s'pose, sopes, speos, spose

(Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpos.se/, [ˈpɔs.sɛ]

posse

1. present active infinitive of possum  "to be able (to)"

posse

1. power, ability
2. (scholastic Latin) potentiality, capability of being
3. (post-classical) force, body of men
4. (Medieval Latin) territory, dominion

• "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, 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
    

From Latin posse (“power, ability”).

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔ.sɨ/
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔ.si/
• (South Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔ.se/
• Hyphenation: pos‧se

posse f (plural posses)

1. possession, land
2. (uncountable) ownership
3. (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.

     (please add an English translation of this quote)