Capacity

the ability to receive or contain:
This hotel has a large capacity.
the maximum amount or number that can be received or contained; cubic contents; volume:
The inn is filled to capacity. The gasoline tank has a capacity of 20 gallons.
power of receiving impressions, knowledge, etc.; mental ability:
the capacity to learn calculus.
actual or potential ability to perform, yield, or withstand:
He has a capacity for hard work. The capacity of the oil well was 150 barrels a day. She has the capacity to go two days without sleep.
quality or state of being susceptible to a given treatment or action:
Steel has a high capacity to withstand pressure.
position; function; role:
He served in the capacity of legal adviser.
legal qualification.
Electricity.

capacitance.
maximum possible output.

reaching maximum capacity:
a capacity audience; a capacity crowd.
Contemporary Examples

Party on in Pag: The Controversy on Croatia’s Hottest Island Kristin Vukovic August 24, 2013
5 Things You Need to Know About Grass-Fed Beef Mark Maynard April 12, 2010
How Obama Can Win John Avlon November 4, 2011
Kabul Bombing’s Political Fallout Peter Beinart June 29, 2011
The Facts About Ferguson Matter, Dammit Doug McIntyre December 2, 2014

Historical Examples

The Child of Pleasure Gabriele D’Annunzio
Deerbrook Harriet Martineau
Some Principles of Maritime Strategy Julian Stafford Corbett
Aether and Gravitation William George Hooper
Beacon Lights of History, Volume VI John Lord

noun (pl) -ties
the ability or power to contain, absorb, or hold
the amount that can be contained; volume: a capacity of six gallons

the maximum amount something can contain or absorb (esp in the phrase filled to capacity)
(as modifier): a capacity crowd

the ability to understand or learn; aptitude; capability: he has a great capacity for Greek
the ability to do or produce (often in the phrase at capacity): the factory’s output was not at capacity
a specified position or function: he was employed in the capacity of manager
a measure of the electrical output of a piece of apparatus such as a motor, generator, or accumulator
(electronics) a former name for capacitance
(computing)

the number of words or characters that can be stored in a particular storage device
the range of numbers that can be processed in a register

the bit rate that a communication channel or other system can carry
legal competence: the capacity to make a will
n.