pow

Interjection

1. The sound of a violent impact, such as a punch.
   • Whap, Biff, Ooooof, Sock, Pow, Zok! Batman is back. Gotham City is again leaving its law and order in the hands of a man who wears plastic underpants over his tights.1989 June 5, The Canberra Times, Australia Captial Territory, page 10, column 2
2. The sound of an explosion or gunshot.
   • Pow, they took off.1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 71
   • ‘Pow-pow-pow...’ Monte drew and slaughtered the besiegers.1982, Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me, Sydney: Fontana/Collins, page 41

Noun (1)

pow (plural pows)

1. The sound of a violent impact.
2. The sound of an explosion.

Noun (2) capitalized: POW

POW (plural POWs)

1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of prisoner of war.
   • After his capture, he was taken to a camp for POWs.

   Synonyms:

   PW

2. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of place of worship.
3. Alternative letter-case form of PoW (“proof of work”).

Noun (3) capitalized: PoW

PoW (countable and uncountable, plural PoWs)

1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of proof of work.
   • With PoW, as new, unverified transactions become available or broadcast to the entire blockchain network, each node that maintains a copy of the ledger (also known as a “miner”) verifies a set of those transactions to prevent so called “double spending”.2019, Peng Zhang, Role of Blockchain Technology in IoT Applications, Academic Press, →ISBN, page 187
2. (abbreviation, countable, initialism) Initialism of prisoner of war.
   • The communists demand the release of all prisoners detained by Saigon – not only the so-called PoWs. This distinction between “prisoners” and “prisoners of war” is significant since the great majority of the NLF members held by Saigon do not have PoW status. Until 1965 there was no such thing as a...1972, Alexander Casella, “Saigon’s prisoners”, in Far Eastern Economic Review, volume 78, page 24, column 1
   • My Lords, is my noble friend aware that in my opinion Saddam Hussein is very lucky that he has been classed as a PoW? Who decided that he was going to be a PoW and who decided that the people in Guantanamo Bay are not PoWs?2004 June 16, Lord Berkeley, quotee, The Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), volume 662, columns 747–748

Proper noun capitalized: Pow

Pow (plural Pows)

1. A surname.