Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

poesy

[poh-uh-see, -zee]
See more synonyms for poesy on Thesaurus.com
noun, plural po·e·sies.
  1. the work or the art of poetic composition.
  2. Archaic.
    1. poetry in general.
    2. verse or poetry in metrical form.
  3. Obsolete.
    1. a poem or verse used as a motto.Compare posy(def 2).
    2. a poem.
Show More

Origin of poesy

1300–50; Middle English poesie < Middle French < Latin poēsis < Greek poíēsis poetic art, poetry, literally, a making, equivalent to poiē-, variant stem of poieîn to make + -sis -sis
Can be confusedpoesy posey posy
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for poesy

Historical Examples

  • At least I can do none of these things, and poesy wearies me to read, much more to write.

    Fair Margaret

    H. Rider Haggard

  • How difficult then to ascertain the truth respecting our poesy and music!

  • And he is wise too; for he is a poet, and the author of poesy in others.

  • Neither of the partners in poesy had the least idea of anything more than being just that.

    The Portygee

    Joseph Crosby Lincoln

  • Has he ever drunk deep draughts from old fountains of poesy?

British Dictionary definitions for poesy

poesy

noun plural -sies
  1. an archaic word for poetry
  2. poetic the art of writing poetry
  3. archaic, or poetic a poem or verse, esp one used as a motto
Show More

Word Origin

C14: via Old French from Latin poēsis, from Greek, from poiēsis poetic art, creativity, from poiein to make
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

Word Origin and History for poesy

n.

late 14c., "poetry; poetic language and ideas; literature; a poem, a passage of poetry," from Old French poesie (mid-14c.), from Vulgar Latin poesia (source of Provençal, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian poesia), from Latin poesis "poetry, a poem," from Greek poesis "composition, poetry," literally "a making, fabrication," variant of poiesis, from poein, poiein "to make or compose" (see poet). Meaning "the art of poetry" is late 15c.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper