Electricity is the invisible force in wires that lights lamps and runs machines. Electrons moving, and a bill at the end of the quarter.
It reached ordinary British homes within living memory of some families, which is worth remembering when a power cut feels intolerable. The vocabulary around it is worth having: current is the flow, voltage is the pressure and resistance opposes it. There is a figurative use about atmosphere, since electricity in a room means excitement so strong it feels physical.
1nounelectricityThe energy carried by moving electric charge, used for light and power.
“The electricity went off for six hours.”
Also accepted in games: power
New Latin
ēlectricus
English
electric
English, today
electricity
From electric + -ity. electric Borrowed from New Latin ēlectricus. c in a publication by Thomas Browne. From New Latin ēlectricus (“electrical; of amber”), from ēlectr(um) + icus; from Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον (“amber”); related to ἠλέκτωρ (“shining sun”), of unknown origin (see which for more). The Latin term was apparently used first with the sense electrical in 1600 by the English physician and scientist William Gilbert in his work De Magnete.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA