electricities

Noun

electricity (usually uncountable, plural electricities)

1. (usually) Originally, a property of amber and certain other nonconducting substances to attract lightweight material when rubbed, or the cause of this property; now understood to be a phenomenon caused by the distribution and movement of charged subatomic particles and their interaction with the electromagnetic field.
   • Again, the concretion of Ice will not endure a dry attrition without liquation ; for if it be rubbed long with a cloth, it melteth. But Cryſtal will calefie unto electricity ; that is, a power to attract ſtraws or light bodies, and convert the needle freely placed.1646, Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, 4th edition, page 56
2. (usually) The study of electrical phenomena; the branch of science dealing with such phenomena.
   • He took up the job of studying electricity in college.
3. (usually) A feeling of excitement; a thrill.
   • Opening night for the new production had an electricity unlike other openings.
4. (usually) Electrical power, as supplied by power stations or generators.
   • This heater draws more than a thousand watts of electricity.
5. (usually) Electrical energy, as supplied by power stations or generators.
   • Last year this portion of the grid consumed more than a thousand megawatt-hours of electricity.
6. (attributive, often, usually) The supply of electricity, as a utility.
   • Electricity bosses set to make record profits.