passing variable into start powershell command

Question

I'd like to pass a string variable into a running a command in a new powershell window.

$word = "bird"
start PowerShell { echo $word; pause }

How do I do this?

Answer 1

Somehow it works better without the curly brackets, and with double quotes to get the variable interpreted. I guess the script block gets converted to a string by start-process. "Powershell -Command" is implied.

start powershell "echo $word; pause"

Or this works with the call operator:

start PowerShell "& { echo $word; pause }"

"Powershell -?" sort of touches on this.

-Command

...
If the value of Command is a script block, the script block must be enclosed
in braces ({}). You can specify a script block only when running PowerShell.exe 
in Windows PowerShell. 

...
If the value of Command is a string, Command must be the last parameter
in the command , because any characters typed after the command are
interpreted as the command arguments.

To write a string that runs a Windows PowerShell command, use the format:
    "& {<command>}"
where the quotation marks indicate a string and the invoke operator (&)
causes the command to be executed.