GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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Found 2 definitions

1.       
   Mechanical , a. [From Mechanic, a.]
   1913 Webster
   Pertaining to, governed by, or in accordance with, mechanics, or the laws of motion; pertaining to the quantitative relations of force and matter on a macroscopic scale, as distinguished from mental, vital, chemical, electrical, electronic, atomic etc.; as, mechanical principles; a mechanical theory; especially, using only the interactions of solid parts against each other; as mechanical brakes, in contrast to hydraulic brakes.
   1913 Webster
   +PJC
   Of or pertaining to a machine or to machinery or tools; made or formed by a machine or with tools; as, mechanical precision; mechanical products.
   1913 Webster
   We have also divers mechanical arts.
   Bacon.
   
   1913 Webster
   Done as if by a machine; uninfluenced by will or emotion; proceeding automatically, or by habit, without special intention or reflection; as, mechanical singing; mechanical verses; mechanical service.
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   Made and operated by interaction of forces without a directing intelligence; as, a mechanical universe.
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   Obtained by trial, by measurements, etc.; approximate; empirical. See the 2d Note under Geometric.
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   Mechanical effect, effective power; useful work exerted, as by a machine, in a definite time. -- Mechanical engineering. See the Note under Engineering. -- Mechanical maneuvers (Mil.), the application of mechanical appliances to the mounting, dismounting, and moving of artillery. Farrow. -- Mechanical philosophy, the principles of mechanics applied to the investigation of physical phenomena. -- Mechanical powers, certain simple instruments, such as the lever and its modifications (the wheel and axle and the pulley), the inclined plane with its modifications (the screw and the wedge), which convert a small force acting through a great space into a great force acting through a small space, or vice versa, and are used separately or in combination. -- Mechanical solution (Math.), a solution of a problem by any art or contrivance not strictly geometrical, as by means of the ruler and compasses, or other instruments.
   1913 Webster
   
         
       

2.       
   Power, 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.]
   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.
   
   1913 Webster
   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.
   
   1913 Webster
   Capacity of undergoing or suffering; fitness to be acted upon; susceptibility; -- called also passive power; as, great power of endurance.
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   Power, then, is active and passive; faculty is active power or capacity; capacity is passive power.
   Sir W. Hamilton.
   
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   The exercise of a faculty; the employment of strength; the exercise of any kind of control; influence; dominion; sway; command; government.
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   Power is no blessing in itself but when it is employed to protect the innocent.
   Swift.
   
   1913 Webster
   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.
   
   1913 Webster
   And the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
   Matt. xxiv. 29.
   
   1913 Webster
   A military or naval force; an army or navy; a great host.
   Spenser.
   
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   Never such a power . . . 
   Was levied in the body of a land.
   Shak.
   
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   A large quantity; a great number; as, a power o good things. [Colloq.]
   Richardson.
   
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   (Mech.) (a) 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.
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   ☞ The English unit of power used most commonly is the horse power. See Horse power.
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   (b) A mechanical agent; that from which useful mechanical energy is derived; as, water power; steam power; hand power, etc. (c) Applied force; force producing motion or pressure; as, the power applied at one and of a lever to lift a weight at the other end.
   1913 Webster
   ☞ This use in mechanics, of power as a synonym for force, is improper and is becoming obsolete.
   1913 Webster
   (d) A machine acted upon by an animal, and serving as a motor to drive other machinery; as, a dog power.
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   ☞ Power is used adjectively, denoting, driven, or adapted to be driven, by machinery, and not actuated directly by the hand or foot; as, a power lathe; a power loom; a power press.
   1913 Webster
   (Math.) 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.
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   (Metaph.) 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.
   I. Watts.
   
   1913 Webster
   The guiltiness of my mind, the sudden surprise of my powers, drove the grossness . . . into a received belief.
   Shak.
   
   1913 Webster
   (Optics) 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.
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   (Law) An authority enabling a person to dispose of an interest vested either in himself or in another person; ownership by appointment.
   Wharton.
   
   1913 Webster
   Hence, vested authority to act in a given case; as, the business was referred to a committee with power.
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   ☞ Power may be predicated of inanimate agents, like the winds and waves, electricity and magnetism, gravitation, etc., or of animal and intelligent beings; and when predicated of these beings, it may indicate physical, mental, or moral ability or capacity.
   1913 Webster
   Mechanical powers. See under Mechanical. -- Power loom, or Power press. See Def. 8 (d), note. -- Power of attorney. See under Attorney. -- Power of a point (relative to a given curve) (Geom.), the result of substituting the coordinates of any point in that expression which being put equal to zero forms the equation of the curve; as, x2 + y2 - 100 is the power of the point x, y, relative to the circle x2 + y2 - 100 = 0.
   1913 Webster