powerhouse

[pou-er-hous] /ˈpaʊ ərˌhaʊs/
noun, plural powerhouses
[pou-er-hou-ziz for 1;pou-er-hou-siz for 2] /ˈpaʊ ərˌhaʊ zɪz for 1;ˈpaʊ ərˌhaʊ sɪz for 2/ (Show IPA)
1.
Electricity. a generating station.
2.
a person, group, team, or the like, having great energy, strength, or potential for success.
Origin
1880-85; power + house
Examples from the web for powerhouse
  • The unlikely but true story of your next favorite media powerhouse.
  • Yet if you look at all those powerhouse programs across the country, only seven or eight actually rake in money.
  • These distributed computing vendors all offer dual services, depending on how much of a processing powerhouse is required.
  • The country regards itself as an export powerhouse whose goods are prized abroad.
  • Becoming an advertising powerhouse is certainly attractive.
  • It might seem a bizarre symbol for a high-tech powerhouse.
  • The prospect of a commodities powerhouse filled customers with dread.
  • He is not a powerhouse pianist, and in certain of the work's more ruminative sections, he spun out a sweetly poetic line.
  • And regulators are paying close attention to the powerhouse these days.
  • The powerhouse would be a semi-underground concrete structure constructed at the portal entrance to the lower tunnel.
British Dictionary definitions for powerhouse

powerhouse

/ˈpaʊəˌhaʊs/
noun
1.
an electrical generating station or plant
2.
(informal) a forceful or powerful person or thing
Word Origin and History for powerhouse
n.

1873, "building where power is generated," from power (n.) + house (n.). Figurative sense is from 1913.

Slang definitions & phrases for powerhouse

powerhouse

noun
  1. A formidable team, organization, etc: Georgia Tech, another powerhouse/ Texas Instruments, a powerhouse in electronics
  2. An energetic and effective person
  3. A vigorous, muscular person, esp an athlete
  4. Anything that constitutes winning force: If you control six votes that's a powerhouse (1915+)