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10 dictionary results for: lightning
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
light·ning 
[lahyt-ning] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, -ninged, -ning, adjective
[lahyt-ning] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, -ninged, -ning, adjective –noun
–verb (used without object)
–adjective
| 1. | a brilliant electric spark discharge in the atmosphere, occurring within a thundercloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the ground. |
| 2. | to emit a flash or flashes of lightning (often used impersonally with it as subject): If it starts to lightning, we'd better go inside. |
| 3. | of, pertaining to, or resembling lightning, esp. in regard to speed of movement: lightning flashes; lightning speed. |
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| light·ning
(līt'nĭng) Pronunciation Key
n.
intr.v. light·ninged (-nĭngd), light·ning, light·nings To discharge a flash of lightning. adj. Moving or occurring with remarkable speed or suddenness. [Middle English, gerund of lightnen, to illuminate, from lighten, from Old English līhtan; see leuk- in Indo-European roots.] |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
lightning
lightning
c.1280, prp. of lightnen "make bright," extended form of O.E. lihting, from leht (see light (n.)). Meaning "cheap, raw whiskey" is attested from 1781. Lightning bug is attested from 1778.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| lightning | |
noun | |
| 1. | abrupt electric discharge from cloud to cloud or from cloud to earth accompanied by the emission of light |
| 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 |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This
lightning
In addition to the idiom beginning with lightning, also see like greased lightning; quick as a wink (lightning).
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
lightning
(līt'nĭng) Pronunciation Key
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A flash of light in the sky caused by an electrical discharge between clouds or between a cloud and the Earth's surface. The flash heats the air and usually causes thunder. Lightning may appear as a jagged streak, as a bright sheet, or in rare cases, as a glowing red ball.
Our Living Language : As storm clouds develop, the temperature at the top of the cloud becomes much cooler than that at the bottom. For reasons that scientists still do not understand, this temperature difference results in the accumulation of negatively charged particles near the base and positively charged particles near the top of the storm cloud. The negatively charged particles repel the electrons of atoms in nearby objects, such as the bases of other storm clouds or tall objects on the ground. Consequently, these nearby objects take on a positive charge. The difference in charge, or voltage, builds until an electric current starts to flow between the objects along a pathway of charged atoms in the air. The current flow heats up the air to such a degree that it glows, generating lightning. Initially, a bolt of lightning carrying a negative charge darts from one storm cloud to another or from a storm cloud to the ground, leaving the bottom of the cloud with a positive charge. In response, a second bolt (reverse lightning) shoots in the opposite direction (from the other storm cloud or the ground) as the mass of negative charges on it moves back to neutralize the positive charge on the bottom of the first cloud. The heat generated by the lightning causes the air to expand, in turn creating very large sound waves, or thunder. |
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
lightning
lightning
An electrical discharge from clouds that have acquired an electrical charge, usually occurring during storms. (See thunder.)
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Lightning
Light"ning\ (l[imac]t"n[i^]ng), n. [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 (Zo["o]l.), 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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Lightning
Light"ning\ (l[imac]t"n[i^]ng), vb. n. Lightening. [R.]
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Lightning
frequently referred to by the sacred writers (Nah. 1:3-6). Thunder and lightning are spoken of as tokens of God's wrath (2 Sam. 22:15; Job 28:26; 37:4; Ps. 135:7; 144:6; Zech. 9:14). They represent God's glorious and awful majesty (Rev. 4:5), or some judgment of God on the world (20:9).
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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