Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Lightning
Light′ning
(līt′nĭng)
, Noun.
[For
lightening
, fr. lighten
to flash.] 1.
A discharge of atmospheric electricity, accompanied by a vivid flash of light, commonly from one cloud to another, sometimes from a cloud to the earth. The sound produced by the electricity in passing rapidly through the atmosphere constitutes thunder.
2.
The act of making bright, or the state of being made bright; enlightenment; brightening, as of the mental powers.
[R.]
Ball lightning
, a rare form of lightning sometimes seen as a globe of fire moving from the clouds to the earth.
– Chain lightning
, lightning in angular, zigzag, or forked flashes.
– Heat lightning
, more or less vivid and extensive flashes of electric light, without thunder, seen near the horizon, esp. at the close of a hot day.
– Lightning arrester
(Telegraphy)
, a device, at the place where a wire enters a building, for preventing injury by lightning to an operator or instrument. It consists of a short circuit to the ground interrupted by a thin nonconductor over which lightning jumps. Called also
– lightning discharger
. Lightning bug
(Zool.)
, a luminous beetle. See
– Firefly
. Lightning conductor
, a lightning rod.
– Lightning glance
, a quick, penetrating glance of a brilliant eye.
– Lightning rod
, a metallic rod set up on a building, or on the mast of a vessel, and connected with the earth or water below, for the purpose of protecting the building or vessel from lightning.
– Sheet lightning
, a diffused glow of electric light flashing out from the clouds, and illumining their outlines. The appearance is sometimes due to the reflection of light from distant flashes of lightning by the nearer clouds.
Light′ning
(līt′nĭng)
, vb.
Noun.
Lightening.
[R.]
Webster 1828 Edition
Lightning
LIGHTNING
,Noun.
1.
A sudden discharge of electricity from a cloud to the earth, or from the earth to a cloud, or from one cloud to another, that is, from a body positively charged to one negatively charged, producing a vivid flash of light, and usually a loud report, called thunder. Sometimes lightning is a mere instantaneous flash of light without thunder, as heat-lightning, lightning seen by reflection, the flash being beyond the limits of our horizon.2.
[from lighten, to diminish weight.] Abatement; alleviation; mitigation.Definition 2024
lightning
lightning
English
lightning
Noun
lightning (usually uncountable, plural lightnings)
- 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.
- Although we did not see the lightning, we did hear the thunder.
- Bible (King James Version), Job 38:35
- Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?
- 1901, E. L. Morris, The Child's Eden, page 16:
- It was the thought of hot July and August days, when the clouds piled up like woolly mountains, and lightnings streaked the sky.
- A discharge of this kind.
- The lightning was hot enough to melt the sand.
- That tree was hit by lightning.
- 1881, Daniel Pierce Thompson, The Green Mountain Boys, page 281:
- 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, […]
- (figuratively) Anything that moves very fast.
- 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot, chapter V:
- 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.
- 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot, chapter V:
- The act of making bright, or the state of being made bright; enlightenment; brightening, as of the mental powers.
Quotations
- 2008, Kathy Clark, Stand By Your Man, page 280:
- 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.
Derived terms
Coordinate terms
Translations
flash of light
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discharge
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Adjective
lightning (not comparable)
Translations
extremely fast
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Verb
lightning (third-person singular simple present lightnings, present participle lightninging, simple past and past participle lightninged)
- (impersonal, childish or nonstandard) To produce lightning.
- 1916, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Understood Betsy
- 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.
- 1968, Dan Greenburg, Chewsday: a sex novel
- 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.
- 1987, Tricia Springstubb, Eunice Gottlieb and the unwhitewashed truth about life
- "Hey!" yelled Reggie, pulling her back. "Get in here! It's lightninging. I don't want a charcoal-broiled friend!"
- 1988, Carlo Collodi, Roberto Innocenti, The adventures of Pinocchio
- 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.
- 1916, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Understood Betsy