1899, Edith Wharton, "A Cup of Cold Water" in The Greater Inclination:But the sound . . . expressed an utter abandonment to grief; not the cloud-burst of some passing emotion, but the slow down-pour of a whole heaven of sorrow.
1908, Stewart Edward White, The Riverman, ch. 38:A cloudburst in the China Creek district followed by continued heavy rains was responsible for the increased water.
1936 Aug. 17, "Miscellany," Time (retrieved 20 May 2014)In Uniontown, Pa., John Walchesky & family rushed from their house when lightning set it afire, rushed in again when a cloudburst put out the blaze.
2007 Feb. 25, Norman Howard, "Devotion, chapter 1" (book excerpt), New York Times (retrieved 20 May 2014)He walked across the lawn, wet from a fleeting late-afternoon cloudburst, the first rain in a month.
