| blister pack | A package consisting of a clear plastic overlay affixed to a cardboard backing for protecting and displaying a product. (18 Nov 1997) |
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| pack | 1. A bundle made up and prepared to be carried; especially, a bundle to be carried on the back; a load for an animal; a bale, as of goods. 2. [Cf. Peck] A number or quantity equal to the contents of a pack; hence, a multitude; a burden. "A pack of sorrows." "A pack of blessings." "In England, by a pack of meal is meant 280 lbs.; of wool, 240 lbs." 3. A number or quantity of connected or similar things; as: A full set of playing cards; also, the assortment used in a particular game; as, a euchre pack. A number of hounds or dogs, hunting or kept together. A number of persons associated or leagued in a bad design or practice; a gang; as, a pack of thieves or knaves. A shook of cask staves. A bundle of sheet-iron plates for rolling simultaneously. 4. A large area of floating pieces of ice driven together more or less closely. 5. An envelope, or wrapping, of sheets used in hydropathic practice, called dry pack, wet pack, cold pack, etc, according to the method of treatment. 6. [Prob. The same word; but cf. AS. Pcan to deceive] A loose, lewd, or worthless person. See Baggage. Pack animal, an animal, as a horse, mule, etc, employed in carrying packs. Pack cloth, a coarse cloth, often duck, used in covering packs or bales. Pack horse. See Pack animal (above). Pack ice. See def. 4, above. Pack moth, a troop of pack animals. Origin: Akin to D. Pak, G. Pack, Dan. Pakke, Sw. Packa, Icel. Pakki, Gael. & Ir. Pac, Arm. Pak. Cf. Packet. 1. To make a pack of; to arrange closely and securely in a pack; hence, to place and arrange compactly as in a pack; to press into close order or narrow compass; as to pack goods in a box; to pack fish. "Strange materials packed up with wonderful art." (Addison) "Where . . . The bones Of all my buried ancestors are packed." (Shak) 2. To fill in the manner of a pack, that is, compactly and securely, as for transportation; hence, to fill closely or to repletion; to stow away within; to cause to be full; to crowd into; as, to pack a trunk; the play, or the audience, packs the theater. 3. To sort and arrange (the cards) in a pack so as to secure the game unfairly. "And mighty dukes pack cards for half a crown." (Pope) 4. Hence: To bring together or make up unfairly and fraudulently, in order to secure a certain result; as, to pack a jury or a causes. "The expected council was dwindling into . . . A packed assembly of Italian bishops." (Atterbury) 5. To contrive unfairly or fraudulently; to plot. " He lost life . . . Upon a nice point subtilely devised and packed by his enemies." (Fuller) 6. To load with a pack; hence, to load; to encumber; as, to pack a horse. "Our thighs packed with wax, our mouths with honey." (Shack) 7. To cause to go; to send away with baggage or belongings; especially, to send away peremptorily or suddenly; sometimes with off; as, to pack a boy off to school. "He . . . Must not die" "Till George be packed with post horse up to heaven." (Shak) 8. To transport in a pack, or in the manner of a pack (i. E, on the backs of men or beasts). 9. To envelop in a wet or dry sheet, within numerous coverings. See Pack. 10. <mechanics> To render impervious, as by filling or surrounding with suitable material, or to fit or adjust so as to move without giving passage to air, water, or steam; as, to pack a joint; to pack the piston of a steam engine. Origin: Akin to D. Pakken, G. Packen, Dan. Pakke, Sw. Packa, Icel. Pakka. See Pack. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| cold pack | A pack of cloth or other material soaked in cold water or encasing ice. (05 Mar 2000) |
| wet pack | The usual form of pack using hot or cold moisture. (05 Mar 2000) |
| hot pack | A pack of cloth or other material soaked in hot water, or producing moist heat by another means. (05 Mar 2000) |
| dry pack | A pack enveloping one in dry, warmed blankets in order to induce profuse perspiration. (05 Mar 2000) |
| ice pack | A cold local application to limit or reduce swelling in recently traumatised tissues; usually in the form of a water-impervious container for ice. Improvised means for containing ice (plastic bags, towels, etc.) are often employed, as are chemical sacks that when struck allow the commingling of chemicals that react endothermically. (05 Mar 2000) |
| candle-power | The luminous flux per unit solid angle in a given direction. Synonym: candle-power, radiant intensity. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mass stopping power | <physics> The mass stopping power (S/r) of a material for charged particles is the quotient dEs by the product of dl and r, where dEs is the average energy lost by a charged particle of specified energy in traversing a path length dl and r is the density of the medium. (16 Dec 1997) |
| resolving power | 1. <optics> The resolution of an optical system defines the closest proximity of two objects that can be seen as two distinct regions of the image. This limit depends upon the Numerical Aperture of the optical system, the contrast step between objects and background and the shape of the objects. The often quoted Airy limit applies only to self luminous discs. 2. <genetics> The smallest map distance measurable by an experiment involving a certain number of classified recombinant progency. (10 Mar 1998) |
| combined-cycle power plant | The combination of a gas turbine and a steam turbine in an electric generation plant. The waste heat from the gas turbine provides the heat energy for the steam turbine. (05 Dec 1998) |
| combined heat and power | An older term for what is now generally called cogeneration. The term is currently used in Europe and other foreign countries. (05 Dec 1998) |
| condensing power | Power generated through a final steam turbine stage where the steam is exhausted into a condenser and cooled to a liquid to be recycled back into a boiler. (05 Dec 1998) |
| polarizing power | <chemistry> Means that a charged species such as a proton can attract negatively charged electrons which causes a shift in the orbital. The higher the positive charge and the smaller the smaller the size, the greater the polarizing power of the species. (09 Jan 1998) |
| power | 1. 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 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. 2. <psychology> The exertion of a strong influence or control over others in a variety of settings; administrative, social, academic, etc. 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. 3. <mechanics> 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. 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. 4. <unit> The English unit of power used most commonly is the horse power. See Horse power. 5. <mathematics> 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. 6. <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. 7. 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. 8. <geometry> Power of a point (relative to a given curve), 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. Origin: 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. Source: Websters Dictionary (04 Jul 1999) |