Definition of "electricity" []

• The physical phenomena arising from the behavior of electrons and protons that is caused by the attraction of particles with opposite charges and the repulsion of particles with the same charge. (noun)
• The physical science of such phenomena. (noun)
• Electric current used or regarded as a source of power. (noun)
• Intense, contagious emotional excitement. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• ""I applied for letters patent for my system of communicating intelligence at a distance by electricity, differing in all respects from Messrs. Wheatstone and Cooke's system, invented five years before theirs, and having nothing in common in the whole system but the use of _electricity_ on _metallic conductors_, for which use no one could obtain an exclusive privilege, since this much had been used for nearly one hundred years."
• "The term electricity is derived from the Greek word ηλεκτρον, amber."
• "Furthermore it does not need electricity, which is an important requirement given that disasters usually result in electricity supplies being disrupted, either temporarily or otherwise."