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.
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.
Capacity of undergoing or suffering;
fitness to be acted upon; susceptibility; -- called also passive
power; as, great power of endurance.
The exercise of a faculty; the employment
of strength; the exercise of any kind of control; influence; dominion;
sway; command; government.
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.
A military or naval force; an army or navy;
a great host.
A large quantity; a great number; as, a
power o(?) good things.
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.
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.
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.
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.
An authority enabling a
person to dispose of an interest vested either in himself or in
another person; ownership by appointment.
Hence, vested authority to act in a given
case; as, the business was referred to a committee with
power.
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