horsepower

[hawrs-pou-er] /ˈhɔrsˌpaʊ ər/

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

1800-10; horse + power

Examples from the web for horsepower

The races must have been spectacular for people who were accustomed to thinking of horsepower in terms of actual horses.
Actually, you only need a wheel if you have horsepower.
After a two-hour run, during which power levels of several thousand horsepower were achieved, the reactor was shut down.
Its best minds must double their horsepower to overcome the gravitational field of tradition.
It wasn't raw horsepower, surprisingly, and not pure ability.
At the stern, our propellers are shaped to get as much of our horsepower into the water as possible.
In one corner: the delta's two mighty pumping stations, marshaling a total of nearly half a million horsepower.
Ironically, the typical driver rarely uses much of the horsepower under the hood.
First, alternators in cars absorb significantly less than one horsepower, even at peak capacity.
Yes, they have lower horsepower, but you don't need all that horsepower anyway.

British Dictionary definitions for horsepower

horsepower

/ˈhɔːsˌpaʊə/

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

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 definition

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.