Definition of "posse" []

• A group of people summoned by a sheriff to aid in law enforcement. (noun)
• A search party. (noun)
• A gang involved in crimes such as running guns and illegal narcotics trafficking. (noun)
• Slang A group of friends or associates. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "_a posse ad esse non valet consequentia_, you can draw no inference from the possibility of a thing to its reality, but that, in the reverse order, _ab esse ad posse_, the inference is inevitable: if it is, or if it ever has been -- then of necessity it can be."
• "Your poor husband ..... probably feels like a posse is after him."
• "ROBERTS: You've got 160deputies trained to enforce immigration laws but you have what you call a posse of another 300,000 you can draw upon, about 500 of whom carry weapons."