Can this be anything other than a resistor

Yes, a resistor by itself is useless. It plays an important part in circuits though.

Resistors limit current in your circuit. For example, if you want to light up an LED, you typically can't just connect an LED to a battery because the current is not limited. With a resistor in series with the LED, you can control the current going through the LED. Also, different values of resistors will give you different currents, which also gives you different LED brightnesses.

To determine the actual power dissipation you should measure the voltage across the resistor when powered on.

The power dissipation is then \$V^2/R\$. The most voltage that a 47 ohm resistor can have and still be within the 1/4-W rating is 3.4V.

It does not matter what the current capability is of the supply (and you should never put an ammeter across a voltage source because you could damage the source or your meter), what matters is what the voltage is under load and the resistance.

If you have multiple resistors in series or in parallel, each will have it's own dissipation depending on the resistance and the voltage across it.

When you use (or abuse) the LED the voltage across it will change so the voltage across the resistor(s) changes from open-circuit, and of course you are also fiddling with the resistance.