horsepower
UK /ˈhɔːsˌpaʊə/ · US /ˈhɔɹsˌpaʊɚ/ noun
Forms horsepowers
- noun (literally, uncountable) Power derived from the motion of a horse.
- noun A nonmetric unit of power with various definitions, commonly the mechanical horsepower, approximately equal to 745.7 watts.
- noun Metric horsepower, a metric unit approximately equal to 735.5 watts.
- noun (figurative, uncountable) Strength, performance capability, specs, or similar. “political horsepower”
Synonyms
Etymology
From horse + power: the unit was originally defined as the amount of power that a horse could provide.
Both non-metric and metric units of power were derived from effectively identical measurements of the power a draught horse could sustain over several hours, with the difference in watts solely due to different rounding errors to express that power in round numbers in the original non-SI units (ft·lbf/min and kgf⋅m/s respectively).
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “horsepower”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details