Green’s Dictionary of Slang

see Black Power dance n.

1. a strong, important, energetic and influential person or entity; also attrib.

1915		P. Geddes Cities in Evolution xiii 312: Before long, then, the School of Civics...must become a familiar institution in every city, with its civic library in rapid growth and widening use, and all as a veritable power-house of civic thought and action.
1916		J. Buchan [title] The Power-House.
1943		F.P. Huddle ‘Baseball Jargon’ AS XVIII:2 105: A hard hitter is known as a distance hitter, power house, power hitter, slugger, or heavy sticker.
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 239: Behind all of this is Tony Gizzo, the powerhouse and communications center between Kansas City and the Chicago mob.
1974		G.F. Newman You Flash Bastard 188: Sneed decided the time was right to make moves against the power-house, not necessarily to put it out completely, but to get some nice hold that would render Rosi considerably more malleable than he was at present.
1984		C. White Life and Times of Little Richard 204: The greatest rough-edge powerhouse singer of them all.
1991		B. McCarthy Vice Cop 270: ‘This is a powerhouse we work for, Babe. These people can find any-fuckin’-thing out’.
2008		W.D. Myers Game 97: Warrick [a high school] was not supposed to be a powerhouse.

2. (US tramp) a cheap bar or saloon.

1915

Morn. Tulsa Dly World (OK) 13 June 19/1: Barrel house — Cheap whiskey store; power house.

(Aus.) a derog. term for an Asian.

1986		B. Hudson First Aus. Dict. Vulgarities & Obscenities n.p.: No, not the boongs or the sheilas or the powerpoints (look it up). The biggest victim of abuse is that beergutted wonder, that chundering fool, the Aussie bloke.
1993		B. Moore Lex. of Cadet Lang. 282: powerpoint an Asian.
2008		Google Groups: soc.culture.french 23 Apr. 🌐 The Chinese can be called chinks, gooks, slopes and powerpoints (if you’ve ever seen an Australian powerpoint you’ll understand why).
2017		Aus. Harley Riders 22 Feb. 🌐 It’s a world wide network of slopeheads /gooks, whatever you want to call them..... I prefer powerpoints....these powerpoints slyly infiltrate your home/workplace, everywhere.

(US campus) coffee.

1989

J. Doyle College Sl. Dict. 🌐 power sludge [CMU] strong coffee.

see separate entries.

see separate entries.

an excl. of encouragement.

1825		T.C. Croker Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1862) 216: More power to your elbow, Maurice, and a fair wind in the bellows.
1832		S. Lover Legends and Stories 155: More power to your elbow, Paddy, my boy.
1845		D. Corcoran Pickings from N.O. Picayune (1847) 14: Musha, more power to your elbow for bringin’ the pipes.
1876		Besant & Rice Son of a Vulcan III 166: Go on, Jack, and more power to your elbow.
1877		‘The Day that Paddy was Breeched’ in Yankee Paddy Comic Song Book 2: More power to your small clothes, / And Ireland too, I say; While a shot she’s got in locker, / Sure she never will say die.
1879		C.J. Kickham Knocknagow 223: ‘More power to your oaten-male-pueata-cake – an’ a griddle to bile id,’ exclaimed Barney.
1891		F.W. Carew Autobiog. of a Gipsey 362: Here’s luck, Jansen, and more power to your elbow!
1900		Punch 28 Feb. 152/1: A dashing fine specimen of scene-painting by, as I gathered from the programme, Messrs. Bruce Smith and Dixon (more power to their elbows!).
1911		G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 178: Well, God bless you, Kerny, and more speed to your elbow.
1920		E. Pound in Witemeyer Pound/Williams Correspondence (1996) 42: ANYHOW blaze away, and more power to your elbow.
1939		K. Tennant Foveaux 253: Yes, he thinks the timber workers are putting up a jolly good fight, more power to their elbow.
1943		‘Henry Green’ Caught (2001) 96: He shouted in Richard’s ear, almost with reverence, ‘More power to his elbow mate, more power to it.’.
1955		K. Amis letter 7 Sept. in Leader (2000) 452: More power to your elbow in the Abolitionist campaign.
1965		L. Dunne Goodbye to The Hill (1966) 109: The taxi driver was asked in for a drink, and more power to his elbow he didn’t say no. Dublin taximen are like that.
1970		A. Young Snakes (1971) 74: Well, I’ll just be! More power to you.
1986		(con. 1930s) P. O’Farrell Tell me, Sean O’Farrell 66: The conclusion of such a recitation was greeted with calls of ‘More power to your elbow’.
1997		Share Slanguage.
2004		N. Corder Writing Your Own Life Story 18: If you do, more power to your elbow. There is nothing quite like the thrill of seeing your name in print.