Pow"der*flask` (?), n. A flask in which gunpowder is carried, having a
charging tube at the end.
Pow"der*horn` (?), n. A horn in which gunpowder is carried.
Pow"der*ing, a. & n. from Powder, v. t.
Powdering tub. (a) A tub or vessel in which meat is corned or salted.
(b) A heated tub in which an infected lecher was placed for cure.
[Obs.] Shak.
Pow"der*mill` (?), n. A mill in which gunpowder is made.
Pow"der-post`ed (?), a. Affected with dry rot; reduced to dust by rot.
See Dry rot, under Dry. [U.S.]
Pow"der*y (?), a. 1. Easily crumbling to pieces; friable; loose; as, a
powdery spar.
2. Sprinkled or covered with powder; dusty; as, the powdery bloom on
plums.
3. Resembling powder; consisting of powder. "The powdery snow."
Wordsworth.
Pow"dike (?), n. [Scot. pow, pou, a pool, a watery or marshy place, fr.
E. pool.] A dike a marsh or fen. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.
Pow"dry (?), a. See Powdery.
Pow"er (?), n. (Zoˆl.) Same as Poor, the fish.
Pow"er, n. [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.