posse: [17] Posse was the Latin verb for ‘be able’. It was a conflation of an earlier expression potis esse ‘be able’; and potis ‘able’ was descended from an Indo-European base *potthat also produced Sanskrit pati- ‘master, husband’ and Lithuanian patis ‘husband’. In medieval Latin posse came to be used as a noun meaning ‘power, force’.
It formed the basis of the expression posse comitātus, literally ‘force of the county’, denoting a body of men whom the sheriff of a county was empowered to raise for such purposes as suppressing a riot. The abbreviated form posse emerged at the end of the 17th century, but really came into its own in 18th- and 19th-century America. => possible, potent
posse (n.)
1640s (in Anglo-Latin from early 14c.), shortening of posse comitatus "the force of the county" (1620s, in Anglo-Latin from late 13c.), from Medieval Latin posse "body of men, power," from Latin posse "have power, be able" (see potent) + comitatus "of the county," genitive of Late Latin word for "court palace" (see comitatus). Modern slang meaning "small gang" is probably from Western movies.
双语例句
1. a little posse of helpers
一小伙帮忙的人
来自《权威词典》
2. A posse of Marsh's friends persuaded them that this was a bad idea.
马什的一群朋友劝他们说这是个馊主意。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Those on today's posse got one drink coming from the county budget!
今天巡逻的人喝一杯县里出钱的酒.
来自电影对白
4. The sheriff said posse could head off the outlaws at the pass.
那位行政司法长官说,警察们可以在关口截住那些亡命之徒.
来自互联网
5. Chen Zhankui battle song gallops sky, we are posse fire.