Lightning

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈlaɪt.nɪŋ/
• GenAm IPA: ˈlʌɪʔ.nɪŋ

Origin

light(e)n + -ing

Full definition of lightning

Noun

1. A flash of light produced by short-duration, high-voltage discharge of electricity within a cloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the earth.Although we did not see the lightning, we did hear the thunder.
• 1901, E. L. Morris, The Child's Eden, page 16:It was the thought of hot July and August days, when the clouds piled up like woolly mountains, and lightnings streaked the sky.
2. A discharge of this kind.The lightning was hot enough to melt the sand.That tree was hit by lightning.
• 1881, Daniel Pierce Thompson, The Green Mountain Boys, page 281:The rain at length ceased; and the lightnings, as they played along the black parapet of clouds, that lay piled in the east, shone with less dazzling fierceness, ...
3. (figuratively) Anything that moves very fast.
• 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot (novel), chapter V:Nobs, though, was lightning by comparison with the slow thinking beast and dodged his opponent's thrust with ease. Then he raced to the rear of the tremendous thing and seized it by the tail.
4. The act of making bright, or the state of being made bright; enlightenment; brightening, as of the mental powers.

Derived terms

Coordinate terms

• thunderbolt

Adjective

1. Extremely fast or sudden.
2. Moving at the speed of lightning.

Verb

1. (impersonal, childish or nonstandard) To produce lightning.
• 1916, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Understood BetsyOr if it thundered and lightninged, Aunt Frances always dropped everything she might be doing and held Elizabeth Ann tightly in her arms until it was all over.
• 1968, Dan Greenburg, Chewsday: a sex novelThe next day, though it is not only raining but thundering and lightninging as well, antiquing is seen by three-fourths of those present as a lesser evil than free play.
• 1987, Tricia Springstubb, Eunice Gottlieb and the unwhitewashed truth about life"Hey!" yelled Reggie, pulling her back. "Get in here! It's lightninging. I don't want a charcoal-broiled friend!"
• 1988, Carlo Collodi, Roberto Innocenti, The adventures of PinocchioI don't know, Father, but believe me, it has been a horrible night — one that I'll never forget. It thundered and lightninged, and I was very hungry.

Usage notes

bolt, flash, strike are some of the words used to count lightning.

The standard, but rare, verb for "lightning occurs" is lighten, used only in the impersonal form "it lightens", or as "it’s lightening".