appose

American  

[uh-pohz] / əˈpoʊz /

verb (used with object)

apposed, apposing

1. to place side by side, as two things; place next to; juxtapose.

2. to put or apply (one thing) to or near to another.

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appose British  

/ əˈpəʊz /

verb

1. to place side by side or near to each other

2. (usually foll by to) to place (something) near or against another thing

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Other Word Forms

• apposability noun
• apposable adjective
• apposer noun
• nonapposable adjective
• unapposable adjective

Etymology

Origin of appose

1585–95; by analogy with compose, propose, etc. < Latin appōnere to place near, set alongside, equivalent to ap- ap- ¹ + pōnere to place

Example Sentences

Last week, as the bandages came off after a minor operation, Terry could appose his thumb well enough to hold his fork in his left hand.

From Time Magazine Archive

It seems to be abbreviated from the old verb "to appose;" which meant, to set a task, to subject to an examination or interrogatory; and hence to perplex, to embarrass, to puzzle.

From Notes and Queries, Number 66, February 1, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Bell, George

To appose him without any accuser, and that secretly.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Webster, Noah

Nowe ye appose me, kepe the c�maundementes quod he, that is a payne in dede.

From Two Dyaloges (c. 1549) by Erasmus, Desiderius

In a will of James I.'s reign, the curate of a parish is to appose the children of a charity-school.

From A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 9 by Various