energy

Noun

energy (countable and uncountable, plural energies)

1. The impetus behind all motion and all activity.
   • A “moving platform” scheme[…]is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails.[…]This set-up solves several problems […]. Stopping high-speed trains wastes energy and time, so why not simply slow them down enough for a moving platform to pull...2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly)
2. The capacity to do work.
   • There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.[…]Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place.1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC
   • McGrath, the manager of Somewhere/Else, told GCN that the long hours she has put in since she has become the bar's manager have left her drained of the energy required to undertake a rebuilding effort.1983 December 17, Christine Guilfoy, “Women's Bar, Mens Baths Destroyed By Fire”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 22, page 17

   Synonyms:

   pep, vigor, vim, vitality

3. A quantity that denotes the ability to do work and is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance²/time² (ML²/T²) or the equivalent.
   • SI: joule (J), kilowatt-hour (kW·h)
     CGS: erg (erg)
     Customary: foot-pound-force, calorie, kilocalorie (i.e. dietary calories), BTU, liter-atmosphere, ton of TNTUnits
4. An intangible, modifiable force (usually characterized as either 'positive' or 'negative') believed in some New Age religions to emanate from a person, place or thing and which is (or can be) preserved and transferred in human interactions; shared mood or group habit.
   • Reiki, much like prayer, is a personal exercise that can easily convert negative energy into positive energy.2004, Phylameana L. Desy, The Everything Reiki Book, Body, Mind & Spirit, p.130
   • Negative feelings can be worked through and their energy converted into positive energy[…]. In crisis, normal patterns of self-organization fail, resulting in anxiety (negative energy). Being open systems, people can exchange this energy with the environment and create positive energy for taking...2009, Christopher Johns, Becoming a Reflective Practitioner, John Wiley & Sons, page 15
5. (in plural, often, Eastern Orthodoxy) The external actions and influences resulting from an entity’s internal nature (ousia) and by which it is made manifest, as opposed to that internal nature itself; the aspect of an entity that can affect the wider world and be apprehended by other beings.
   • The three Persons of the Holy Trinity have the same opinion, make the same decision, and put forth the same energy and action.2003, Carl S. Tyneh, Orthodox Christianity: Overview and Bibliography, page 21
   • We hold, further, that there are two energies in our Lord Jesus Christ. For He possesses on the one hand, as God and being of like essence with the Father, the divine energy, and, likewise, since He became man and of like essence to us, the energy proper to human nature. […] Energy is the efficient...2017, Stoyan Tanev, Energy in Orthodox Theology and Physics: From Controversy to Encounter, quoting and translating the conclusions of the Fifth Council of Constantinople (1351), page 2
6. (roleplaying games, board games) A measure of how many actions a player or unit can take; in the fantasy genre often called magic points or mana.

   Synonyms:

   action points

7. (Internet) An atmosphere, aura, or vibe.
   • big dick energy; divorced guy energy; main character energy
   • A moviegoing subscription relying on VR and decentralized technologies gives the same energy as AMC getting into crypto. Fine, but why?2018 September 27, Bijan Stephen, “@Dril is the best chronicler of the internet's last decade”, in The Verge, archived from the original on 07 Jun 2023