noun
- Plural of candlepower; units of luminous intensity, historically defined as the light emitted by a standard candle.
Usage: technical; largely historical; replaced by the candela in modern SI units
Examples
- The old lighthouse used bulbs rated at several thousand candlepowers.
- Early electric lamps were compared to candlepowers to help consumers understand their brightness.
- The specification listed the lamp's output in candlepowers, a unit now obsolete in scientific work.
- Before standardized lighting measurements, candlepowers provided a familiar reference point for brightness.