Meanings
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1
noun
power to influence or coerce
The puissance of the labor vote.
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2
noun
The high-jump component of the sport of show jumping.
It was in Dublin that San Lucas scored his first success in what has become something of a speciality for him, the puissance.
Etymology
From Middle English puissaunce, from Anglo-Norman puissance, pusaunce, and other forms, from Old French puissant (“powerful”).