Word: power Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *pótis Proto-Italic *potis Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- Proto-Indo-European *bʰúHt Proto-Italic *som Proto-Italic *possom Latin posseder. Vulgar Latin potēre Old French pooir Anglo-Norman poerbor. Middle English power English power From Middle English power, poer, from Old French poeir, from Vulgar Latin potēre, from Latin posse, whence English potent. Compare French pouvoir. Displaced the native Old English anweald. Pronunciation: /ˈpaʊ̯ə̯/, /ˈpaʊ̯.ə/, [ˈpʰaə], [ˈpʰaː], [ˈpʰɑː] 1. The ability to do or undergo something. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: He has lost the power to speak. Example: On June 8, 1872, the London & North Western Railway obtained powers to quadruple its main line, and a new tunnel was bored for the up and down slow lines. 2. The ability to coerce, influence, or control. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The proportion of female colleagues in the Hsinchu County Government and its affiliated units has reached 61%. “Women Power” is the power behind over half of the services provided by the county government. 3. The ability to coerce, influence, or control. Labels: countable Example: the power of the written word Example: An incident which happened about this time will set the characters of these two lads more fairly before the discerning reader than is in the power of the longest dissertation. 4. The ability to coerce, influence, or control. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: He's nominally president, but he does not have any real power. Example: “[…] That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh. Her own father recognised it when he bereft her of all power in the great business he founded. […]” 5. The ability to coerce, influence, or control. Labels: countable, in-plural, metonymically, uncountable 6. The ability to coerce, influence, or control. Labels: countable, metonymically, uncountable Example: In the 19th century, Britain and France were major colonial powers. Example: Britain is no longer the maritime power that it once was. 7. The ability to coerce, influence, or control. Labels: archaic, countable, metonymically, uncountable Example: The threatning words of duke Robert comming at the last to king Henries eares, caused him foorthwith to conceiue verie sore displeasure against the duke, in so much that he sent ouer a power of men into Normandie, which finding no great resistance, did much hurt in the countrie, by fetching and carieng spoiles and preies. Example: Then when our powers in points of ſwords are ioin’d And cloſde in compaſſe of the killing bullet, Though ſtraite the paſſage and the port be made, That leads to Pallace of my brothers life, Proud is his fortune if we pierce it not. 8. Strength, energy. Labels: countable, physical, uncountable Example: He needed a lot of power to hit the ball out of the stadium. 9. Strength, energy. Labels: attributive, countable, physical, uncountable Example: She's a power shopper; she knows all the best deals. Example: This high-spec computer is ideal for power users. 10. Strength, energy. Labels: countable, physical, uncountable Example: The power to haul the train is supplied by two huge locomotives. 11. Strength, energy. Labels: countable, physical, specifically, uncountable Example: After the pylons collapsed, this town was without power for a few days. Example: “My father had ideas about conservation long before the United States took it up.[…]You preserve water in times of flood and freshet to be used for power or for irrigation throughout the year. […]” 12. Strength, energy. Labels: countable, physical, uncountable Example: The kilowatt is a unit of power, equivalent to 1,000 joules of energy per second. 13. Strength, energy. Labels: countable, physical, uncountable Example: We need a microscope with higher power. 14. A large amount or number. Labels: colloquial, countable, uncountable Example: do a power of good Example: Don't you mind my snuffling a little—becuz we're in a power of trouble. 15. Any of the elementary forms or parts of machines: three primary (the lever, inclined plane, and pulley) and three secondary (the wheel-and-axle, wedge, and screw). Labels: countable, uncountable Example: the mechanical powers 16. A tractor. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The set I'm making right now needs a power on it, but we don't have any tractors left in the yard. 17. A measure of the effectiveness that a force producing a physical effect has over time. If linear, the quotient of: (force multiplied by the displacement of or in an object) ÷ time. If rotational, the quotient of: (force multiplied by the angle of displacement) ÷ time. Labels: countable, uncountable 18. A product of equal factors (and generalizations of this notion): xⁿ, read as "x to the power of n" or the like, is called a power and denotes the product x×x×⋯×x, where x appears n times in the product; x is called the base and n the exponent. Labels: countable, uncountable 19. Cardinality. Labels: countable, uncountable 20. The probability that a statistical test will reject the null hypothesis when the alternative hypothesis is true. Labels: countable, uncountable 21. In Christian angelology, an intermediate level of angels, ranked above archangels, but exact position varies by classification scheme. Labels: countable, in-plural, uncountable 22. A bonus point awarded for answering correctly before a certain part of the tossup is read. Labels: countable, uncountable