composure

From compose +‎ -ure.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpoʊʒɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpəʊʒə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: com‧po‧sure

composure (countable and uncountable, plural composures)

1. Calmness of mind or temperament

   Synonyms: coolness, self-possession

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 559-560:

     That all may see who hate us, how we seek
     Peace and composure […]

   • 1725, Isaac Watts, chapter 3, in Logick: Or, The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry after Truth, […], 2nd edition, London: […] John Clark and Richard Hett, […], Emanuel Matthews, […], and Richard Ford, […], published 1726, →OCLC:

     It would be also of great Use to us to form our deliberate Judgments of Persons and Things in the calmest and serenest Hours of Life, when the Passions of Nature are all silent, and the Mind enjoys its most perfect Composure […]

   • 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:

     “Did you want anything, ma’am?” I enquired, still preserving my external composure, in spite of her ghastly countenance and strange exaggerated manner.

   • 1894, Giacomo Casanova, chapter 16, in Arthur Machen, transl., The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt‎^[1], volume 4, London: Elek Books, page 407:

     He began to lose his composure, and made mistakes, his cards got mixed up, and his scoring was wild.

   • 2011 September 2, “Wales 2-1 Montenegro”, in BBC‎^[2]:

     Montenegro's early composure was shaken by that set-back and a visibly buoyed Wales nearly added a second goal when Bale broke past two defenders and fired a long-range shot that Bozovic tipped over

2. (obsolete) The act of composing
   • 1818, John Evelyn, Memoirs, edited by William Bray, London: Henry Colburn, 2nd edition, Volume I, entry for 10 March, 1685, p. 592,^[3]

     […] Sign^r Pietro […] had an admirable way both of composure [in music] and teaching.

3. (obsolete) Something which is composed; a composition.
4. (obsolete) Orderly adjustment; disposition.
   • 1695, John Woodward, An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies‎^[4], London: Richard Wilkin, Part 5, p. 230:

     […] from the various Composures and Combinations of these Corpusoles together, happen all the Varieties of the Bodies formed out of them […]

5. (obsolete) Frame; make; temperament.
   • c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:

     […] his composure must be rare indeed
     Whom these things can not blemish […]

6. (obsolete) A combination; a union; a bond.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

     […] their fraction is more our wish than their faction: but it was a strong composure a fool could disunite.

• (calmness): equanimity
• (calmness): See also Thesaurus:calm