lightning — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A flash of light produced by short-duration, high-voltage discharge of electricity within a cloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the earth.

   Usage

   • Uncountable
   • usually

   Examples

   Although we did not see the lightning, we did hear the thunder.

   Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?

   More examples (4)

   It was the thought of hot July and August days, when the clouds piled up like woolly mountains, and lightnings streaked the sky.

   Between 8 and 9 p.m., the recorder at a meteorological station at Harrow, Middlesex, picked up 1,470 lightning flashes within a radius of 10 to 15 miles, and observers at the station described the storm as "probably one of the most spectacular of the century."

   Manny drove a few miles per hour under the speed limit, entranced by the awesome display of lightning streaking out of the clouds toward earth.

   "Ruu": The adults in the village all said that children like me could calm the lightning and turn the storms into timely rain.

2. A discharge of this kind.

   Usage

   • Uncountable
   • usually

   Examples

   The lightning was hot enough to melt the sand.

   That tree was hit by lightning.

   More examples (2)

   Auster and Aquilon with winged Steeds All ſweating, tilt about the watery heauens, With ſhiuering ſpeares enforcing thunderclaps, And from their ſhields ſtrike flames of lightening

   The rain at length ceased; and the lightnings, as they played along the black parapet of clouds, that lay piled in the east, shone with less dazzling fierceness, […]

3. Anything that moves very fast.

   Usage

   • Figurative
   • Uncountable
   • usually

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Nobs, though, was lightning by comparison with the slow thinking beast and dodged his opponent's thrust with ease. Then he raced to the rear of the tremendous thing and seized it by the tail.

4. Gin.

   Usage

   • Archaic
   • Slang
   • Uncountable
   • usually

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   I took some gin but it did little to calm my mood. […] 'Come now, Bess,' she entreated, and poured another glass of lightning. 'Tell your old mother everything.' I took a gulp of the spirit, then babbled all, showing her the loot now in my possession.

Adjective

1. Extremely fast or sudden; moving (as if) at the speed of lightning.

   Usage

   • not-comparable

   Examples

   The insurgents then began their lightning advance along the Euphrates in the Sunni heartland toward Baghdad.

Verb

1. To produce lightning.

   Usage

   • childish
   • impersonal
   • Intransitive
   • nonstandard

   Examples

   Or if it thundered and lightninged, Aunt Frances always dropped everything she might be doing and held Elizabeth Ann tightly in her arms until it was all over.

   More examples (1)

   The next day, though it is not only raining but thundering and lightninging as well, antiquing is seen by three-fourths of those present as a lesser evil than free play.

   "Hey!" yelled Reggie, pulling her back. "Get in here! It's lightninging. I don't want a charcoal-broiled friend!"

   More examples (1)

   I don't know, Father, but believe me, it has been a horrible night — one that I'll never forget. It thundered and lightninged, and I was very hungry.

Noun

1. abrupt electric discharge from cloud to cloud or from cloud to earth accompanied by the emission of light

   Broader terms

   atmospheric electricity

2. the flash of light that accompanies an electric discharge in the atmosphere (or something resembling such a flash); can scintillate for a second or more

   Broader terms

   flash