horsepower

plural horsepowers

1. literallyuncountablePower derived from the motion of a horse.

   The wheel was to have been turned by horsepower, but it was adapted to be driven by a mill-wheel on the river Derwent […]

   2003, Gavin Weightman, What the Industrial Revolution Did for Us, page 57

   2 more examples

   Shillibeer's bus came in 1829 drawn by three horses. Later two horses were found sufficient to pull these closed wagonettes, which eventually had outside seats, and later on the substitution of a motor for horsepower.

   1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 86

   The Sun Inn is an attractive black-and-white building, and has an old mounting block outside as a reminder of the days when horsepower meant four legs and a saddle.

   1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 150

2. countableuncountableA nonmetric unit of power with various definitions, commonly the mechanical horsepower, approximately equal to 745.7 watts.

   As Quincy recovered from our one-block adrenaline burst, I gunned all 700 horsepower once more. Even with the pedal to the metal, the Exelero's sheer bulk caused a multisecond lag from the twin-turbo-charged V12's wind-up to actual launch.

   2007 January 24, Sue Callaway, “Jonesing for a Maybach”, in CNN, archived from the original on 17 Apr 2009

   2 more examples

   Equally I can stand in a station like Lucerne in Switzerland, and watch with ill-concealed admiration the majestic entry of one of the latest Gotthard "Ae 6/6" electrics, packing 6,000 horsepower within its 60 ft. of length and 121 tons of weight, with its sleek dark green sides and handsome stainless steel bands and front wings.

   1955 April, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 261

   In the past, before the widespread adoption of SI units, the work that engines were capable of doing was compared with the work that horses could do – hence the term ‘horsepower’. Various people came up with various equivalencies, but the modern agreed definition is that 1 horsepower is 746 joules per second or 746 watts.

   2012 March 22nd, David Blockley, Engineering: A Very Short Introduction (309), Oxford University Press, chapter 2: “The age of gravity – time for work”, page 20

   Synonyms: hp

3. countableuncountableMetric horsepower, a metric unit approximately equal to 735.5 watts.

   Synonyms: PS

4. figurativelyuncountableStrength, performance capability, specs, or similar.

   political horsepower

   1 more example

   My patron who sent this to me to do a whole video on, you know, Convergence or whatever, being able to use this as a desktop, uh, replacement, or at least a desktop type thing, it’s impossible for me, I can’t do it, this device just doesn’t have that type of horsepower even to run itself, let alone actually run desktop Linux, it just can’t do it, I haven’t figured out how to do it.

   2024 May 3, The Linux Cast, 8:35 from the start, in I Need to Apologize... This Device is Bad