absolute

Part of the names of several electrical units, the absolute ampere, absolute ohm, absolute volt, etc., distinguishing them from the international ampere, etc.

The absolute practical system of units was defined by the First International Congress of Electricians (Paris, 1881) and included the volt, ohm, ampere, coulomb and farad. The joule, watt, and quadrant were added at the Second International Congress of Electricians (Paris, 1889). These units (as defined in the 19th century) have been obsolete since 1947.

In the British Association Report of 1863, “absolute” applied to a unit meant “that the measurement, instead of being a simple comparison with an arbitrary quantity of the same kind as that measured, is made by reference to certain fundamental units of another kind treated as postulates.” The word may have been first used in this sense by Gauss in an 1832 paper titled, “Intensitas vis magneticae terrestis in mensuram absolutam revocata.”

British Association for the Advancement of Science Report 1863, page 112.