chain lightning


noun
  1. Chiefly Northeastern and Western U.S. lightning that seems to move very quickly in wavy or zigzag lines.

Origin of chain lightning

1
An Americanism dating back to 1825–35

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use chain lightning in a sentence

  • I gathered another impression, and it was that bonefish were related to dynamite and chain lightning.

    Tales of Fishes | Zane Grey
  • Wilson at full is simply chain lightning, and the whole country will be talking of him by November.

  • I could see their every movement, and it seemed to me that the chain lightning was striking the iron-stone all round them.

    Allan's Wife | H. Rider Haggard
  • Overhead the storm burst in fury, and flash after flash of fork, or rather chain lightning, leapt into the river.

    Jess | H. Rider Haggard
  • He did the job up pretty well, considering; and as for your Thad, he's chain lightning on the send.

British Dictionary definitions for chain lightning

chain lightning

noun
  1. another name for forked lightning

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012