posse

plural posses

1. A group or company of people, originally especially one having hostile intent; a throng, a crowd.First known use 17th c.

   1 more example

   It is traditional in America to criticize the schools; for more than a century, parents, self-styled experts, and educators themselves have attacked and indicted the educational system. No aspect of schooling has been more severely criticized than reading instruction. The current books have a long ancestry, and every innovation carries in its train a posse of suspicious and, one feels, unpersuadable observers.

   1972, Mortimer J. Adler with Charles Van Doren, chapter 3, in How to Read a Book, Touchstone September 2014 edition, New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, →OCLC, page 23

2. historicalA group of people summoned to help law enforcement.First known use 17th c.

   While Wyatt dismounted and aimed his shotgun at Brocius, the rest of his posse retreated.

   2013, Andrew C. Isenberg, Wyatt Earp: A Vigilante Life, Hill and Wang, →ISBN, page 165

   2 more examples

   He […] no sooner set his nose within the room to which he was directed, than the constable and his posse sprung upon him, before he had the least intimation of his design, or any opportunity of acting in his own defence.

   1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC

   Mathews then appointed Morton as a deputy sheriff and after a posse had been selected, they went in pursuit of the criminals. Within a few hours, the posse overtook the thieves.

   1986, Donald R. Lavash, Sheriff William Brady, Tragic Hero of the Lincoln County War, Sunstone Press, →ISBN, page 77

3. USA search party.
4. JamaicaUSslangA criminal gang.First known use 20th c.

   Jamaican posses can be traced back to the Jamaican neighborhoods, and posse names correspond to the names of each neighborhood in which the gangs operate.

   1997, Michael D. Lyman, Organized Crime, Prentice Hall, page 287

5. colloquialA group of (especially young) people seen as constituting a peer group or band of associates; a gang, a group of friends.First known use 20th c.

   But the few friends that I DO have are my “ride or die” chicks—my posse.

   2014, April Boyd-Noronha, The Soul of a Single Parent: How to Snapback and Get Your SWAG On, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 77

   1 more example

   Hey, sir? Sir, excuse me?” The blonde was calling out to him, in imperious tones that insisted on a reply. […] She was breaking a rule of big-city life, breaking it brazenly, sure of her power, confident of her turf and posse, fearing nothing.

   2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 4