POWDRY
Pow"dry, a.
Defn: See Powdery.
POWER
Pow"er, n. (Zoöl.)
Defn: Same as Poor, the fish.
POWER
Pow"er, n. Etym: [OE. pouer, poer, OF. poeir, pooir, F. pouvoir, n. &
v., fr. LL. potere, for L. posse, potesse, to be able, to have power.
See Possible, Potent, and cf. Posse comitatus.]
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. "One next himself in power, and next in crime." Milton.
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. "The power of fancy." Shak.
3. Capacity of undergoing or suffering; fitness to be acted upon; susceptibility; — called also passive power; as, great power of endurance. Power, then, is active and passive; faculty is active power or capacity; capacity is passive power. Sir W. Hamilton.
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. 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. "The powers of darkness." Milton. And the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Matt. xxiv. 29.