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volt - 12 dictionary results

volt

1 [vohlt]

Use volt in a Sentence

–noun Electricity.

the SI unit of potential difference and electromotive force, formally defined to be the difference of electric potential between two points of a conductor carrying a constant current of one ampere, when the power dissipated between these points is equal to one watt. Abbreviation: V

Origin:
1870–75; named after A. Volta

volt

2 [vohlt]

–noun

Manège.

a.	a circular or turning movement of a horse.

b.	a gait in which a horse going sideways turns around a center, with the head turned outward.

2.	Fencing. a sudden movement or leap to avoid a thrust.

Origin:
1650–60; < F volte < It volta, n. deriv. of voltare to turn < VL *volvitare, freq. of L volvere to turn; see vault ²

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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volt¹ (vōlt)

n. Abbr. V
The International System unit of electric potential and electromotive force, equal to the difference of electric potential between two points on a conducting wire carrying a constant current of one ampere when the power dissipated between the points is one watt. See Table at measurement.

[After Count Alessandro Volta.]

volt² also volte (vōlt, vôlt)

n. Sports

A circular movement executed by a horse in manège.
A sudden movement made in avoiding a thrust in fencing.

[French volte, from Italian volta, turn, from voltare, to turn, leap; see vault².]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Volt

Volt\, n. [F. volte; cf. It. volta. See Vault.]

1. (Man.) A circular tread; a gait by which a horse going sideways round a center makes two concentric tracks.

2. (Fencing) A sudden movement to avoid a thrust.

Volt

Volt\, n. [After Alessandro Volta, the Italian electrician.] (Elec.) The unit of electro-motive force; -- defined by the International Electrical Congress in 1893 and by United States Statute as, that electro-motive force which steadily applied to a conductor whose resistance is one ohm will produce a current of one amp[`e]re. It is practically equivalent to 1000/1434 the electro-motive force of a standard Clark's cell at a temperature of 15[deg] C.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : volt

Spanish: voltio,

German: das Volt,

Japanese: ボルト

More Translations »

volt [(vohlt)]

The unit of electromotive force, the volt measures how much “pressure” there is in an electric circuit. The higher the voltage, the more electrical current will flow in the circuit.

Note: Ordinary household outlets are usually rated at 115 volts, car batteries at 12 volts, and flashlight batteries at 1.5 volts.

volt

unit of electromotive force, 1873, back-formation from adj. voltaic (1813), designating electricity produced by chemical action, formed in allusion to It. physicist Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), who perfected a chemical process used in electrical batteries. Voltage is first attested 1890.

Main Entry: volt
Pronunciation: 'vOlt
Function: noun
1 : the practical mks unit of electrical potential difference and electromotive force equal tothe difference of potential between two points in a conducting wire carrying a constant current of one ampere when the power dissipated between these two points is equal to one watt and equivalent tothe potential difference across a resistance of one ohm when one ampere is flowing through it
2 : a unit of electrical potential difference and electromotive force equal to 1.00034volts and formerly taken as the standard in the U.S.
Voláta /'vol-tä/, Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio (1745–1827), Italian physicist. Volta servedas professor of physics at the University of Pavia, Italy, from 1779 to 1804. From 1815 he was director of the philosophical faculty at the University of Padua, Italy. His interest in electricity ledhim to invent in 1775 a device used to generate static electricity. In 1800 he demonstrated his electric battery for the first time. The volt, a unit of potential difference that drives current, wasnamed in his honor.

volt (vōlt)
n.
Abbr. V
A unit of electromotive force in the Internation System of Units that will produce a current of 1 ampere in a circuit that has resistance of 1 ohm.

volt (vōlt) Pronunciation Key
The SI derived unit used to measure electric potential at a given point, usually a point in an electric circuit. A voltage difference of one volt drives one ampere of current through a conductor that has a resistance of one ohm. One joule of work is required to move an electric charge of one coulomb across a potential difference of one volt. One volt is equivalent to one joule per coulomb. See also Ohm's law.

volt

unit of electrical potential, potential difference and electromotive force in the metre-kilogram-second system (SI); it is equal to the difference in potential between two points in a conductor carrying one ampere current when the power dissipated between the points is one watt. An equivalent is the potential difference across a resistance of one ohm when one ampere is flowing through it. The volt is named in honour of the 18th-19th-century Italian physicist Alessandro Volta. These units are defined in accordance with Ohm's law, that resistance equals the ratio of potential to current, and the respective units of ohm, volt, and ampere are used universally for expressing electrical quantities. See also electric potential; electromotive force.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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