1. Any device or material that absorbs power from a source of electrical signals. Examples include loudspeakers, television and radio receivers, the material heated by dielectric or induction heating, logic circuits, and any driven circuit.
2. The output power delivered by any electrical machine, generator, transducer, electronic circuit, or device. The machine, generator, etc., is off-load when it is operated under normal conditions but no absorbing load is connected at the output. It is on-load when connected to an absorbing load.
The maximum power that is absorbed by a load or delivered as a load in a predetermined time period is the peak load.