Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK/US black) a gang.

1987		D. Hebdige Cut ’n’ Mix 149: With the Saxon Posse now, we chat what’s happening here, not Jamaica, America or Timbuktu.
1999		N. Cohn Yes We have No 221: We had a posse thirty or forty strong, the Cromer Posse.
2001		(con. 1981) A. Wheatle East of Acre Lane 131: The posse kissed their teeth and headed for Coffin Head’s car.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 143/2: posse, the n. = the bros sense 2.
2005		R. Cea No Lights, No Sirens 88: The Jamaicans came in with their posses, and the homegrowns were pretty much shut down.
2005		in B. Hare Urban Grimshaw 3: We’re the Shed Crew Posse of Lucifer Towers / and there’s no one can beat our criminal powers.
2012		M. Wilkerson ‘A Clean White Sun’ in ThugLit Sept./Oct. [ebook] With his posse out front no one should’ve ever made it this far.
2014		Stormzy ‘Shut Up’ 🎵 They roll deep, I roll squaddy / Got about 25 goons in my posse.
2020		G. Armstrong Young Team 4: YTP [...] that stood fur Young Team Posse.

2. (orig. US campus, also possie) one’s own circle of friends.

1989		P. Munro Sl. U. 151: posse group of friends.
1997–2000		Da Bomb 🌐 22: Possee: Group of friends.
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 83: I’ve brought [...] a big box of milk Tray for my mam and her posse.
2012		M. Lacher On the Bro’d 13: [S]he had a posse of hot friends and everything would be raw as hell.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 224: Do some shots, neck some pills, and go into town to meet Karine’s posse.
2023		D. Whish-Wilson I Am Already Dead 10: [T]he dancefloor singalong of what looked like a hens’ night possie.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 124: [H]er ‘possee’ was insistent and she didn't want to let them down.

3. (orig. US black) oneself, as described in the third person, e.g. the posse can’t dig this, I am unhappy.

1993

Wall Street Journal 29 Mar. cited in C. Major Juba to Jive (1994) .

4. an in-group.

1999

Indep. Rev. 22 July 4: This summer’s must-have war wound among the glosse posse.

5. a band, a hip-hop crew.

1991		N. Krulik Hammer and Vanilla Ice 18: Before each show, Hammer and his posse psyched themselves up.
2000		Observer Mag. 27 Feb. 23: Marky has had quite some success leading his pop-rap posse Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.
2008		‘Grandmaster Flash’ Adventures 40: I hooked up with three dudes I knew over in the South Bronx. One of the kids, named Bumpy Faced Melvin, had a loose dance posse, a dance crew.