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posse

American  
[pos-ee] / ˈpɒs i /

noun

  1. posse comitatus.

  2. a body or force armed with legal authority.

  3. Slang. a group of friends or associates.

    hanging out with your posse; a posse of drug dealers.
posse British  
/ ˈpɒsɪ /

noun

  1. Also called: posse comitatus.  the able-bodied men of a district assembled together and forming a group upon whom the sheriff may call for assistance in maintaining law and order

  2. law possibility (esp in the phrase in posse )

  3. slang a Jamaican street gang in the US

  4. informal a group of friends or associates

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of posse

First recorded in 1575–85; from Medieval Latin posse “power, force,” noun use of Latin infinitive: “to be able, have power,” contraction of potis “able” + esse “to be”; potent 1

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.