Search Result for "power of attorney":
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (1)

1. a legal instrument authorizing someone to act as the grantor's agent;


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Power \Pow"er\, n. [OE. pouer, poer, OF. poeir, pooir, F. pouvoir, n. & v., fr. LL. potere, for L. posse, potesse, to be able, to have power. See Possible, Potent, and cf. Posse comitatus.] 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." --Milton. [1913 Webster] 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." --Shak. [1913 Webster] 3. Capacity of undergoing or suffering; fitness to be acted upon; susceptibility; -- called also passive power; as, great power of endurance. [1913 Webster] Power, then, is active and passive; faculty is active power or capacity; capacity is passive power. --Sir W. Hamilton. [1913 Webster] 4. The exercise of a faculty; the employment of strength; the exercise of any kind of control; influence; dominion; sway; command; government. [1913 Webster] Power is no blessing in itself but when it is employed to protect the innocent. --Swift. [1913 Webster] 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." --Milton. [1913 Webster] And the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. --Matt. xxiv. 29. [1913 Webster] 6. A military or naval force; an army or navy; a great host. --Spenser. [1913 Webster] Never such a power . . . Was levied in the body of a land. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 7. A large quantity; a great number; as, a power o? good things. [Colloq.] --Richardson. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] Note: The English unit of power used most commonly is the horse power. See Horse power. [1913 Webster] (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. [1913 Webster] Note: This use in mechanics, of power as a synonym for force, is improper and is becoming obsolete. [1913 Webster] (d) A machine acted upon by an animal, and serving as a motor to drive other machinery; as, a dog power. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 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. --I. Watts. [1913 Webster] The guiltiness of my mind, the sudden surprise of my powers, drove the grossness . . . into a received belief. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 12. (Law) An authority enabling a person to dispose of an interest vested either in himself or in another person; ownership by appointment. --Wharton. [1913 Webster] 13. Hence, vested authority to act in a given case; as, the business was referred to a committee with power. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

power of attorney n 1: a legal instrument authorizing someone to act as the grantor's agent
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

67 Moby Thesaurus words for "power of attorney": agency, agentship, assignment, authority, authorization, brevet, care, change, charge, commission, commissioning, commitment, commutation, consignment, cure, delegated authority, delegation, deputation, deputyship, devolution, devolvement, displacement, embassy, empowerment, entrusting, entrustment, errand, exchange, executorship, exequatur, factorship, full power, jurisdiction, legation, license, lieutenancy, mandate, mission, office, plenipotentiary power, power to act, procuration, proxy, purview, quid pro quo, regency, regentship, replacement, representation, responsibility, subrogation, substitution, supersedence, superseding, supersedure, supersession, supplantation, supplanting, supplantment, switch, task, tit for tat, trust, trusteeship, vicarious authority, vicariousness, warrant
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

POWER OF ATTORNEY. Vide Letter of attorney, and 1 Mood. Or. Cas. 57, 58.