Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An abrupt, discontinuous natural electric discharge in the atmosphere.
- n. The visible flash of light accompanying such a discharge.
- n. Informal A sudden, usually improbable stroke of fortune.
- v. To discharge a flash of lightning.
- adj. Moving or occurring with remarkable speed or suddenness.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A becoming light or bright; a flashing of light: in this sense usually lightening.
- n. A sudden illumination of the heavens caused by the discharge of atmospheric electricity from one cloud to another or from a cloud to the earth; a flash of light due to electricity in the atmosphere. The lightning-flash may have a length of a mile or even more, and commonly takes an irregular direction (forked lightning), the path of the electrical discharge being that of the least resistance. In sheet-lightning no definite spark is seen, but a general illumination over a broad surface; it is commonly due to the reflection by the clouds of the discharge proper. This is called
summer lightning or heat-lightning when the storm is at a great distance, so that only the broad flashes of light are seen, usually near the horizon, and unaccompanied by thunder. Sheet-lightning is also described as occurring when there is neither storm nor cloud; if such cases be authentic, it is probably due to a weak electrical discharge in the air at a considerable altitude. In globular lightning or globe-lightning, which is a rare phenomenon, the discharge takes a spherical form (fire-ball), sometimes apparently a foot or more in diameter, and lasts for a number of seconds, descending slowly to the earth, and often exploding with a loud report. The discharge of frictional electricity in the laboratory gives phenomena similar in kind to those of lightning, and the “brimstone odor” which sometimes accompanies the latter (due to the formation of ozone) is often observed. - n. A becoming light or less heavy; an exhilaration of the spirits.
Wiktionary
- n. The flash of light caused by the discharge of atmospheric electrical charge.
- n. The discharge of atmospheric electrical charge itself.
- n. Anything that moves very fast.
- adj. Extremely fast or sudden.
- adj. Moving at the speed of lightning.
- v. To produce lightning.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. 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.
- n. The act of making bright, or the state of being made bright; enlightenment; brightening, as of the mental powers.
- v. Lightening.
WordNet 3.0
- n. abrupt electric discharge from cloud to cloud or from cloud to earth accompanied by the emission of light
- n. 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
Etymologies
- Middle English, gerund of lightnen, to illuminate, from lighten, from Old English līhtan; see leuk- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“When we come back, what we call our lightning round.”
“I remember one of the operations that did go on in -- well, not actually in Basra; I believe it was in Az Zubayr, British forces, what they described as a lightning quick raid.”
“It usually happens that the exhalation that is ejected is inflamed and burns with a thin and faint fire: this is what we call lightning, where we see as it were the exhalation coloured in the act of its ejection.”
“As a child of seven or eight she began to experience what she describes as lightning-like sensations,”
“The powerful electric discharges which we call lightning separate or split the watery vapors in the air into these elements.”
“God directs the thunder, and the lightning is his, v. 3.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon)
“Q Geoff, the Jerusalem Post reported yesterday that the director general of the Israeli defense ministry made what they call a lightning visit to Washington yesterday.”
“And why does Palpatine become so permanently deformed when his Sith lightning is turned back on him (Luke is not so deformed by Palpatine's lightning at the end of ROTJ)?”
“The whole story worked out before him in lightning flashes.”
“The "big story" of the day would sometimes start on one end of the block and work its way through the attached houses in lightning speed.”
The Huffington Post: Barbara Hannah Grufferman: What Do Women Over 50 Want to Know About Life?
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘lightning’.
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Eesily missspellable words
absence, abundance, accessible, accidentally, acclaim, accommodate, accomplish, accordion, accumulate, achievement, acquaintance, across and 420 more...
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color (multi)
tiara's color lists rebuilt :)
( visual, colors, multi, descriptive, randomness )pastel, rainbow, gemstone, crystals, ore, minerals, elements, neon, northern lights, fur, sunset, sunrise and 98 more...
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The Pain of Texting
Words that are a pain in the ass to type in on a numerical keypad on a cell phone because they have consecutive letters that share the same button:
2 - ABC
3 - DEF
4 - GHI...defcon, hi, no, attitude, xylophone, on, monday, monkey, mono, dig, back, babble and 212 more...
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Words That Perfectly Describe Their Meaning
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Words I Misspell
There are words suffering from a butcher.
prioprietary, definitely, a lot, bellwether, committed, daiquiri, existence, gauge, guard, guarantee, harass, lightning and 7 more...
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It's Electric!
I get a charge out of these words.
galvanometer, acierage, actino-electricity, agometer, amperage, ampere, antilogous, cataphoric, ceraunics, coulomb, cymaphen, deflagrator and 40 more...
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Walking in the rain
It's possible someone else has already made a list like this. Maybe their list includes piña coladas - I hope so. I'll be starting mine with a broken umbrella and slippery flip-flops, but feel free...
broken umbrella, slippery flip-flops, rain, worms, cold, wet, mud-luscious, puddle-wonderful, lightning, flooding, mud, storm-water runoff and 18 more...

john The P-38, a classic fighter of the World War II era built by Lockheed. More on Wikipedia. Dec 29, 2008