lightening

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“
In this training camp Taylor has been working on some of the same skills that allowed him to rise to the ranks of the boxing elite, namely a lightening-quick jab.

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Definitions (8)

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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

  1. A becoming light; the break of day. See lightning, 1.
  2. See lightning, 2.
  3. A brightening up, as of the mind or spirit. [Rare.] You gave me good warning to take heed and beware, lest after a lightening I catch a foil. J. Careless, in Bradford's Works (Parker Soc., 1853), II. 356.
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Examples (50)

  • The horizon was lightening, and if Sara was not delirious, she thought she might even have seen a patch of blue, high up and far away, true, but there nevertheless. —  Blindfold Game
  • Another resemblance between the old English and the modern Norwegian dramatist is that each has felt the solid stuff of the drama to require lightening, and has attempted to provide this by means, in Ben Jonson's case, of solemn “choruses,” in Ibsen's of lyrics. —  Henrik Ibsen
  • The sky was still an hour from lightening, and the city of Yotia was quiet beneath his window. —  JEFF GRUBB
  • Similarly, you'd be very surprised if a flash of lightening were accompanied by a soft, swooshing sound, or if a the ripples on a pond were associated with loud cracking noises. —  Serendip's Exchange -
  • It was in beta testing and was fast as lightening -- and those on the school board were prohibited from seeing it. —  Mark Rauterkus & Running Mates ponder current events
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This word has been looked up 63 times.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Verbal noun of lighten, v.: see lightning.
  2. Verbal noun of lighten, v.
 

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