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• power dive
  power dive

  noun

  a dive, especially a steep dive, by an aircraft in which the engine or engines are delivering thrust at or near full power.
• power-dive
  power-dive

  verb (used with or without object)

  to cause to perform or to perform a power dive.

power dive

¹ American  

noun

Aeronautics.

1. a dive, especially a steep dive, by an aircraft in which the engine or engines are delivering thrust at or near full power.

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power-dive ² American  

[pou-er-dahyv] / ˈpaʊ ərˌdaɪv /

verb (used with or without object)

Aeronautics.

power-dived, power-dove, power-dived, power-diving

1. to cause to perform or to perform a power dive.

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power dive British  

noun

1. a steep dive by an aircraft with its engines at high power

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verb

1. to cause (an aircraft) to perform a power dive or (of an aircraft) to perform a power dive

Etymology

Origin of power dive¹

First recorded in 1925–30

Origin of power-dive²

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

Many military planes can plunge in a power dive, faster & faster until the needle of the airspeed indicator creeps close to the dread red mark of "compressibility."

From Time Magazine Archive

Fainthearts who swoon on Ferris wheels and feel dizzy when an elevator drops should keep away from this power dive into the problems of training college boys to be airmen.

From Time Magazine Archive

Pilot Pickup put his plane into a power dive.

From Time Magazine Archive

The minuscule sub survives the 3G power dive into the artery, and glides idyllically down a clear stream filled with pink and white corpuscles that look like house-sized globules of tapioca.

From Time Magazine Archive

The yelping of the Ya-men whirled away in unimaginable distances, and for a second I felt the unmerciful blackout of a power dive, with blood breaking from my nostrils and filling my mouth.

From The Door Through Space by Bradley, Marion Zimmer