horsepower

[hawrs-pou-er]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR horsepower ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a foot-pound-second unit of power, equivalent to 550 foot-pounds per second, or 745.7 watts.

Informal. the capacity to achieve or produce; strength or talent: The university's history faculty is noted for its intellectual horsepower.

Origin of horsepower

First recorded in 1800–10; horse + power

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for horsepower

strength, force, weight, energy, intensity, potential, service, electricity, heat, dynamism, violence, effort, vigor, puissance, potency, omnipotence, brawn, sinew, vim, forcefulness

Examples from the Web for horsepower

Contemporary Examples of horsepower

In the race to the future, horsepower was losing to gas power, and the city was changing.
‘The Harness Maker’s Dream:’ The Unlikely Ranch King of Texas
Nick Kotz
September 20, 2014
They used a 30 horsepower refrigeration unit to keep the wall frozen and spent about $15 a day to power it.
Fukushima N-Plant Will Be Surrounded by a Wall of Ice
Josh Dzieza
September 4, 2013
It cruises at 43 miles per hour and has about a 10 horsepower engine, no larger than the Wright brothers' original vessel.
Solar Plane That Can Fly Day and Night Takes Off
Miranda Green
May 3, 2013
In the end, though, it usually comes down to an irresistible urge to combine a love of feet with a love of horsepower, says Block.
The Red State Sex Fetish
Anneli Rufus
March 21, 2010

Historical Examples of horsepower

The motor is a double-cylinder two-cycle one, of ten horsepower.
Tom Swift and his Motor-boat
Victor Appleton
And I will measure the energy I use in terms of sun-powers, not horsepower.
Invaders from the Infinite
John Wood Campbell
In fact, nothing but a machine of horsepower could have accomplished that.
The Desert Home
Mayne Reid
Geilsgrefte, horsepower, was best exerted by a horse, he thought.
Blind Man's Lantern
Allen Kim Lang
But let us take five horsepower as a desirable minimum in this instance.
Electricity for the farm
Frederick Irving Anderson

British Dictionary definitions for horsepower

horsepower

noun

an fps unit of power, equal to 550 foot-pounds per second (equivalent to 745.7 watts)

a US standard unit of power, equal to 746 watts

Abbreviation: HP, h.p

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for horsepower

1806, from horse (n.) + power (n.); established by Watt as the power needed to lift 33,000 pounds one foot in one minute, which is actually about 1.5 times the power of a strong horse.

horsepower in Science

horsepower

[hôrs′pou′ər]

A unit that is used to measure the power of engines and motors. One unit of horsepower is equal to the power needed to lift 550 pounds one foot in one second. This unit has been widely replaced by the watt in scientific usage; one horsepower is equal to 745.7 watts.

horsepower in Culture

horsepower

A unit of power equal to about 746 watts.

Note

The horsepower is used to measure the power of engines.

Note

This term was coined by James Watt, who invented a new type of steam engine in the eighteenth century. Watt found that the horse could do a certain amount of work per second; when he sold his steam engines, this measurement allowed him to estimate the worth of an engine in terms of the number of horses it would replace. Therefore, a six-horsepower engine was capable of replacing six horses.