A weight or force that balances or counteracts another weight or force; something that provides equilibrium or stability.
From counter- + poise (from Old French peis, meaning weight, from Latin pensare, to weigh). The word entered English around the 14th century when scales and balance mechanisms were crucial to commerce and engineering.
The concept of counterpoise is absolutely fundamental to engineering and physics—Archimedes' lever is the original counterpoise, showing that a small weight at distance can balance a large weight up close, revolutionizing how humans could move things.
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