powers

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of power.

   The treaty limited the military powers of the defeated nation.

   Several major powers sent delegates to the summit.

   Note

   A plural that does more than count. Many meanings of power pluralize naturally, such as the powers a treaty grants or the powers of a trained mind. One meaning lives chiefly in the plural: the powers, meaning the people who hold authority, the government itself. Beside it sits the countable sense of a strong nation or company, which is how several major powers come to meet at a summit.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of power.

   The dam powers thousands of homes across the valley.

   A small solar panel powers the weather station all summer.

   Note

   A regular -s form for a verb that usually takes an object. A battery powers a phone, and an idea powers a movement. Sport and motion use it more freely: a player powers a ball forward with force, or, with no object at all, a runner powers down the track. When nothing follows the verb, read it as speed and force, not supplied energy.

   She powers the ball past the keeper from twenty yards.

   In the final lap he powers down the straight and takes the lead.

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