POUTRELLE, Fr. a small beam.
POWDER. See [Gunpowder].
Powder-magazine, a bomb-proof arched building to hold the powder in fortified places, &c. containing several rows of barrels laid one over another. See [Magazine].
Powder-cart, a two wheeled carriage, covered with an angular roof of boards. To prevent the powder from getting damp, a tarred canvas is put over the roof; and on each side are lockers to hold shot, in proportion to the quantity of powder, which is generally four barrels.
Powder-mill, a building in which the materials are beat, mixed together, and grained: they are placed near rivers, and as far from any house as can be, for fear of accidents, which often happen. See [Mill].
POWER, a natural faculty of doing or suffering any thing. Mr. Locke, in his Essay on the Human Understanding, considers power under two heads. One he calls active and the other passive power.
Power, in military affairs as well as in all others, is knowlege—of human passions—of arms—of distances—of the skill and numbers of an enemy.
To be in the POWER of any body, in a figurative sense, to have committed yourself in such a manner, as to be under the necessity of keeping upon good terms with a person who might injure you by a disclosure of your secrets. To avoid putting yourself in the power of any man, hear much, say little, and write less. These are maxims which every public character ought to attend to; and every general should cautiously follow during an active campaign, when there are frequent occasions to communicate with spies, &c. and he is not unfrequently obliged to hold intercourse with suspected persons.
To be in the POWER of an enemy. To have taken up, injudiciously, such a position as to expose you to a defeat whenever the enemy may think proper to attack you.
Powers of lines and quantities, are their squares, cubes, &c. or other multiplications of the parts into the whole, or of one part into another.