poise

Universal Words noun, verb noun [U] 1 a calm and confident manner with control of your feelings or behaviour: His performance was full of maturity and poise. * She seemed embarrassed for a moment but quickly recovered her poise. 2 the ability to move or stand in a graceful way with good control of your body verb to be or hold sth steady in a particular position, especially above sth else: [V, +adv./prep.] The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. * [VNtoinf] He was poising himself to launch a final attack. * [VN+adv./prep.] She poised the javelin in her hand before the throw.