D defs.my
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Entry 16 senses · 2 variants Webster, 1913

Power

/pou'-ẽr/ · Pow·er · IPA /ˈpaʊ̯.ɚ/
01 n. Same as Poor, the fish.
  1. 1.
    Same as Poor, the fish.(Zool.) See: Poor
02 n. Ability to act, regarded as latent or inherent; the faculty of doing or performing something; capacity for action or performance; capabilit…
  1. 1.
    Ability to act, regarded as latent or inherent; the faculty of doing or performing something; capacity for action or performance; capability of producing an effect, whether physical or moral: potency; might; as, a man of great power; the power of capillary attraction; money gives power.
  2. 2.
    Ability, regarded as put forth or exerted; strength, force, or energy in action; as, the power of steam in moving an engine; the power of truth, or of argument, in producing conviction; the power of enthusiasm.
  3. 3.
    Capacity of undergoing or suffering; fitness to be acted upon; susceptibility; -- called also passive power; as, great power of endurance. Also: passive power
    “Power, then, is active and passive; faculty is active power or capacity; capacity is passive power.” — Sir W. Hamilton.
  4. 4.
    The exercise of a faculty; the employment of strength; the exercise of any kind of control; influence; dominion; sway; command; government.
    “Power is no blessing in itself but when it is employed to protect the innocent.” — Swift.
  5. 5.
    The agent exercising an ability to act; an individual invested with authority; an institution, or government, which exercises control; as, the great powers of Europe; hence, often, a superhuman agent; a spirit; a divinity.
    “And the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.” — Matt. xxiv. 29.
  6. 6.
    A military or naval force; an army or navy; a great host.
    “Never such a power . . . Was levied in the body of a land.” — Shak.
  7. 7.
    A large quantity; a great number; as, a power o� good things.[Colloq.]
  8. 8.
    The rate at which mechanical energy is exerted or mechanical work performed, as by an engine or other machine, or an animal, working continuously; as, an engine of twenty horse power.(Mech.)
  9. 9.
    A mechanical agent; that from which useful mechanical energy is derived; as, water power; steam power; hand power, etc.
  10. 10.
    A machine acted upon by an animal, and serving as a motor to drive other machinery; as, a dog power.
  11. 11.
    The product arising from the multiplication of a number into itself; as, a square is the second power, and a cube is third power, of a number.(Math.)
  12. 12.
    Mental or moral ability to act; one of the faculties which are possessed by the mind or soul; as, the power of thinking, reasoning, judging, willing, fearing, hoping, etc.(Metaph.)
    “The guiltiness of my mind, the sudden surprise of my powers, drove the grossness . . . into a received belief.” — Shak.
  13. 13.
    The degree to which a lens, mirror, or any optical instrument, magnifies; in the telescope, and usually in the microscope, the number of times it multiplies, or augments, the apparent diameter of an object; sometimes, in microscopes, the number of times it multiplies the apparent surface.(Optics)
  14. 14.
    An authority enabling a person to dispose of an interest vested either in himself or in another person; ownership by appointment.(Law)
  15. 15.
    Hence, vested authority to act in a given case; as, the business was referred to a committee with power.
Phrases & compounds
Mechanical powers — See under Mechanical.
Power loom — See Def. 8 (d), note.
Power of attorney — See under Attorney.
Power of a point — the result of substituting the coordinates of any point in that expression which being put equal to zero forms the equation of the curve; as, x2 + y2 - 100 is the power of the point x, y, relative to the circle x2 + y2 - 100 = 0.