the.com/powercut

means A sudden loss of electrical power to a building or area, usually caused by a fault, overload, or outage somewhere on the grid.

from A straightforward 20th-century compound: 'power' (electrical supply, from Latin 'potere', to be able) plus 'cut', the ordinary sense of severing or interrupting something. It joined the language alongside the rise of electrical grids, when supply could be deliberately rationed or accidentally severed — 'cut' doing the same job it does in 'cut off' the phone or 'cut' the engine.