thunderstrike, v.
(ˈθʌndəstraɪk)
Pa. tense and pple. thunderstruck (see also prec. and thunderstruck).
[prob. a back-formation from thunderstricken, that being taken as a pa. pple.]
1. trans. (lit.) To strike with ‘thunder’ or lightning (cf. thunder n. 1 b). ? Obs.
| 1613 Heywood Brazen Age iv. Wks. 1874 III. 232 My father [Jove]..startles vp to thunder-strike the lad [Phaeton]. 1666 T. Neale in Phil. Trans. I. 247 The Account..by the learned Dr. Charleton, concerning the boy that was Thunder⁓struck near Nantwich in Cheshire. 1710 W. King Heathen Gods & Heroes liv. (1722) 186 Charybdis..was Thunder-struck by Jupiter, and transformed into a Sea-Monster. a 1711 Ken Christophil Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 442 Angels..Expected when Almighty Ire Shou'd Thunder-strike our guilty Sire. 1902 Greenough & Kittredge Words 309 ‘Astonish’ is literally ‘to thunderstrike’, and was once common in the physical sense of ‘stun’. |
2. fig. To strike as with ‘thunder’. a. To strike with amazement, astonish greatly. Obs. exc. as in thunderstricken, thunderstruck.
| 1613– [see thunderstruck 2 a]. 1721 G. Roussillon tr. Vertot's Rev. Portugal 104 This message thunder-struck the Duke. 1789 M. Nuber Let. in Ld. Auckland's Corr. (1861) II. 324 This revolution thunder-strikes the keenest man. 1807 Southey Espriella's Lett. III. 183 The news..thunderstruck all present. |
b. To inflict severe or terrible vengeance, reproof, or the like, upon. In quot. 1818 in physical sense, to batter severely.
| 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 71 He had..thunder struck him, with a storme of mighty words. 1650 Trapp Comm. Exod. xix. 16 To terrifie and thunder-strike offenders. 1699 Cibber Xerxes v, To Thunder-strike thy Soul. 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. clxxxi, The armaments which thunderstrike the walls. |