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noun Attorney n. (pl. attorneys) 1.A substitute; a proxy; an agent. (Obs.) "And will have no attorney but myself." 2.(Law) (a)One who is legally appointed by another to transact any business for him; an attorney in fact. (b)A legal agent qualified to act for suitors and defendants in legal proceedings; an attorney at law. Note: An attorney is either public or private. A private attorney, or an attorney in fact, is a person appointed by another, by a letter or power of attorney, to transact any business for him out of court; but in a more extended sense, this class includes any agent employed in any business, or to do any act in pais, for another. A public attorney, or attorney at law, is a practitioner in a court of law, legally qualified to prosecute and defend actions in such court, on the retainer of clients. The attorney at law answers to the procurator of the civilians, to the solicitor in chancery, and to the proctor in the ecclesiastical and admiralty courts, and all of these are comprehended under the more general term lawyer. In Great Britain and in some states of the United States, attorneys are distinguished from counselors in that the business of the former is to carry on the practical and formal parts of the suit. In many states of the United States however, no such distinction exists. In England, since 1873, attorneys at law are by statute called solicitors. A power of attorney, letter of attorney, or warrant of attorney, a written authority from one person empowering another to transact business for him.
Power n. 1.Ability to act, regarded as latent or inherent; the faculty of doing or performing something; capacity for action or performance; capability of producing an effect, whether physical or moral: potency; might; as, a man of great power; the power of capillary attraction; money gives power. "One next himself in power, and next in crime." 2.Ability, regarded as put forth or exerted; strength, force, or energy in action; as, the power of steam in moving an engine; the power of truth, or of argument, in producing conviction; the power of enthusiasm. "The power of fancy." 3.Capacity of undergoing or suffering; fitness to be acted upon; susceptibility; called also passive power; as, great power of endurance. "Power, then, is active and passive; faculty is active power or capacity; capacity is passive power." 4.The exercise of a faculty; the employment of strength; the exercise of any kind of control; influence; dominion; sway; command; government. "Power is no blessing in itself but when it is employed to protect the innocent." 5.The agent exercising an ability to act; an individual invested with authority; an institution, or government, which exercises control; as, the great powers of Europe; hence, often, a superhuman agent; a spirit; a divinity. "The powers of darkness." "And the powers of the heavens shall be shaken." 6.A military or naval force; an army or navy; a great host. "Never such a power... Was levied in the body of a land." 7.A large quantity; a great number. (Colloq.) 8.(Mech.) (a)The rate at which mechanical energy is exerted or mechanical work performed, as by an engine or other machine, or an animal, working continuously; as, an engine of twenty horse power. Note: The English unit of power used most commonly is the horse power. See Horse power. (b)A mechanical agent; that from which useful mechanical energy is derived; as, water power; steam power; hand power, etc. (c)Applied force; force producing motion or pressure; as, the power applied at one and of a lever to lift a weight at the other end. Note: This use in mechanics, of power as a synonym for force, is improper and is becoming obsolete. (d)A machine acted upon by an animal, and serving as a motor to drive other machinery; as, a dog power. Note: Power is used adjectively, denoting, driven, or adapted to be driven, by machinery, and not actuated directly by the hand or foot; as, a power lathe; a power loom; a power press. 9.(Math.) The product arising from the multiplication of a number into itself; as, a square is the second power, and a cube is third power, of a number. 10.(Metaph.) Mental or moral ability to act; one of the faculties which are possessed by the mind or soul; as, the power of thinking, reasoning, judging, willing, fearing, hoping, etc. "The guiltiness of my mind, the sudden surprise of my powers, drove the grossness... into a received belief." 11.(Optics) The degree to which a lens, mirror, or any optical instrument, magnifies; in the telescope, and usually in the microscope, the number of times it multiplies, or augments, the apparent diameter of an object; sometimes, in microscopes, the number of times it multiplies the apparent surface. 12.(Law) An authority enabling a person to dispose of an interest vested either in himself or in another person; ownership by appointment. 13.Hence, vested authority to act in a given case; as, the business was referred to a committee with power. Note: Power may be predicated of inanimate agents, like the winds and waves, electricity and magnetism, gravitation, etc., or of animal and intelligent beings; and when predicated of these beings, it may indicate physical, mental, or moral ability or capacity. Mechanical powers. See under Mechanical. Power loom, or Power press. See Def. 8 (d), note. Power of attorney. See under Attorney. Power of a point (relative to a given curve) (Geom.), the result of substituting the coordinates of any point in that expression which being put equal to zero forms the equation of the curve; as, x^(2) + y^(2) - 100 is the power of the point x, y, relative to the circle x^(2) + y^(2) - 100 = 0.
Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48
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