▪ I. lightning, n.
(ˈlaɪtnɪŋ)
Also 4–5 liȝtnynge, 4, 6 lyghtnyng, 5–6 lightnyng, lyght(e)nynge, lyt(e)nynge, (5 litynnynge, 6 lyghteling), 6–8 lightening, 7–8 light'ning.
[Special use of lightening vbl. n.2; now differentiated in spelling.]
1. The visible discharge of electricity between one group of clouds and another, or between the clouds and the ground. Also in particularized sense (now rare), A flash of lightning. like lightning, with the swiftness of lightning. Also in phr. † in less than, † to last no longer than a lightning.
forked lightning, chain lightning or chained lightning: designations applied (usu. indiscriminately) to lightning which assumes the form of a zigzag or divided line. sheet lightning: that in which a wide surface is equally illuminated at once. summer lightning or heat lightning: sheet lightning without thunder, the result of a storm at a great distance.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xix. 197 Thanne come..One spiritus paraclitus to Pieres and to his felawes In lyknesse of a liȝtnynge, he lyȝte on hem alle. 1388 Wyclif Ps. lxxvi. 19 Thi liȝtnyngis schyneden to the world. c 1425 J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 314 The moost horribil thunderes and litynnyngis that evyr ony man herd. a 1470 Gregory's Chron. in Hist. Coll. Citizen Lond. (Camden) 185 The same yere was Syn Poulys stypylle fyryd..whythe the lyghtenynge. 1555 Eden Decades 98 He shall rewarde yowe whiche sendeth thunderynge and lyghtelyng to the destruction of myscheuous men. 1591 Florio 2nd Fruites 49 It shall be readie in les than a lightning. 1651 tr. De-las-Coveras' Don Fenise 257 A beame of her eyes..which lasted no longer than a lightning. 1718 Pope Iliad xv. 725 He..drives him, like a Light'ning, on the Foe. 1722 De Foe Plague (1754) 261 This Notion ran like Lightening thro' the City. 1841 Marryat Poacher xxvii, Our hero..ran like lightning to the gap. 1859 All Year Round No. 17. 400 The lightning..was chiefly ‘sheet lightning’, though now and then ‘chained’ or ‘forked’ was visible. 1880 Nature XXI. 407 A few lightnings and rather more auroras were seen. |
| transf. and fig. 1686 tr. Chardin's Coron. Solyman 149 The Lightning of Royal disfavour afterwards fell on Mirza Sadee. 1771 H. Mackenzie Man Feel. xxviii. (1803) 48 His eyes lost the lightning of their fury. 1821 Shelley Death Napoleon iii, The lightning of scorn laughed forth As she sung [etc.]. 1859 Tennyson Guinevere 516 She..Makes wicked lightnings of her eyes. |
2. a. slang. Gin. Also, any strong,
freq. low-quality, alcoholic spirit. Chiefly
U.S. Cf. chain-lightning (
s.v. chain n. 19).
| 1781 G. Parker Life's Painter 140 Noggin of lightning, a quartern of gin. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 160 The stimulant of a ‘flash of lightning’. 1858 Calif. Spirit of Times (San Francisco) 7 Aug. 1/4 Having in his possession a few kegs of liquid lightning upon which he was avariciously desirous of reaping a speedy profit. 1873 J. Miller Life amongst Modocs viii. 94 In one of the saloons where men were wont to..drink lightning. 1945 L. Shelly Jive Talk Dict. 28/2 Lightning and thunder, whisky and soda. 1958 L. van der Post Lost World of Kalahari ii. 53 The fiery Cape brandy known to us children as ‘Blitz’ or Lightning. |
b. pl. One of the top grades of white jute.
| 1929 Woodhouse & Kilgour Spinning Flax & Jute i. 2 (caption) Jute bale marks... Lightnings. 1929 Observer 17 Nov. 4/3 Jute... Lightnings November–December quoted {pstlg}25. 1964 R. R. Atkinson Jute i. 23 White jute is assorted into three main classes... The top class is sub-divided into Firsts, Lightnings, and Hearts. |
3. attrib. and
Comb.:
a. simple attributive, as
lightning-flame,
lightning-flash,
lightning-glimpse;
b. instrumental, as
lightning-blackened,
lightning-blasted,
lightning-struck adjs.;
c. similative and parasynthetic, as
lightning-footed,
lightning-quick,
lightning-rapid,
lightning-swift,
lightning-winged adjs.;
lightning-like adj. and
adv.| 1897 Clark Russell Noble Haul 80 Abaft she was naked, withered, and *lightning-blackened. |
| 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. ii. i. 135 Yon *lightning-blasted almond-tree. |
| 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. 8 To set the aire on fier with *lightning flames. |
| 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. ii. i. 3 Secure of Thunders cracke or *lightning flash. 1866 J. H. Newman Gerontius §4 Then sight..As by a lightning-flash, will come to thee. |
| 1870 Bryant Iliad I. viii. 247 Mars, the *lightning-footed. |
| 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 642 Light as the *Lightning glimps they ran. |
| a 1822 Shelley Prose Wks. (1880) III. 323 *Lightning-like the vigorous maiden strides. 1841 Keble Serm. xii. (1848) 311 The clear, the indisputable, the lightning-like evidence. |
| 1925 V. Woolf Common Reader 41 That is the quality that first strikes us in Greek literature, the *lightning-quick, sneering, out-of-doors manner. 1947 C. S. Lewis Miracles xii. 118 What they painfully reconstruct from a million dots..he really produced with a single lightning-quick turn of the wrist. 1961 Times 25 Mar. 4/7 That strangely reluctant take-away of the club and the lightning-quick swing caused plenty of trouble yesterday. |
| 1922 D. H. Lawrence England, my England 45 The officer was giving the last *lightning-rapid orders to fire. |
| c 1820 S. Rogers Italy (1839) 157 An oak..Now *lightning-struck. |
| 1857 C. Brontë Professor II. xix. 48 So *lightning-swift is thought. |
| 1646 Crashaw Sospetto d'Herode xxx, The nimblest of the *lightning-winged loves. |
d. passing into an
adj.: Moving or flashing by with the rapidity of lightning; done, produced, or acting with the speed of lightning;
spec. lightning artist, an artist who paints or draws pictures very quickly as an entertainment;
lightning-change, a rapid change of costume made by an actor or performer; also
attrib.;
lightning strike, a sudden strike (
strike n. 9) which takes place without any warning;
lightning tournament, a Chess tournament in which each player must make his move within a prescribed few seconds; also
lightning chess,
lightning player, etc.
| 1640 Bp. Reynolds Passions iv, To have a vanishing and lightning Fancie that knoweth not how to stay and fasten upon any particular. 1847 Disraeli Tancred iv. xi, He gazed with admiration on her lightning glance. 1873 W. Mathews Getting on in World 242 Now..people travel by ‘lightning lines’, going from New York to Chicago in twenty-nine hours. 1875 ‘Mark Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly Aug. XXXVI. 192/1 If one of the boats has a ‘lightning’ pilot, whose ‘partner’ is a trifle inferior, you can tell which one is on watch by noting whether that boat has gained ground or lost. 1889 G. O. Seilhamer Hist. Amer. Theatre II. xxiii. 299 He may..be accorded the distinction of being the first ‘lightning change artist’ on the American stage. 1908 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 342/5 Silver Dip. The new lightning cleaner. 1910 Year-Bk. Chess 143 (heading) Two special lightning tournaments were held. 1920 Radiograph July p. ix/1 The first step was an endeavour to try to stigmatise the..action as ‘A Lightning Strike’. 1927 W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 70 A few technical expressions of the Halls which are commonly known to English townsfolk, but not likely to find their way into all the dictionaries, e.g...lightning artists (caricaturists working at great speed). 1927 E. Glyn ‘It’ 240 She had promised to sit for him just for a lightning sketch. 1928 G. B. Shaw Intelligent Woman's Guide Socialism lxxxiii. 448 A lightning strike of waitresses in a restaurant. 1940 E. C. Shepherd Britain's Air Power 5 In the German ‘Lightning War’ on Poland the aeroplane was used to the full as an offensive weapon. 1945 Tee Emm (Air Ministry) V. 33 Fields, hedges and houses flash past at lightning speed under your wings. 1946 Happy Landings (Air Ministry) July 7/2 In addition to making a lightning survey of local air safety measures..a..lecture was given. 1948 C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident iv. 39 Lightning sketches by Miss E. Toppingham. Ibid. 48 Toppy's sister, the lightning artist, had done particularly well. 1949 H. Golombek World Chess Championship 1948 24 He is..one of the world's best lightning players. 1951 ‘Assiac’ Adventure in Chess iii. iii. 99 Most proficient at ‘lightning Chess’. 1952 Granville Dict. Theatr. Terms 111 Lightning-change artiste, the (more usual) quick-change artiste, one who imitates..a number of well-known personalities. 1955 Times 3 Aug. 8/7 A shortage of labour caused a lightning strike of about 200 men at the Albert and William Wright docks at Hull to-day. 1971 E. Pritchard Chess for Pleasure xii. 148 In the evenings there may be lightning tournaments, when games are played at 10 seconds a move. |
e. Special combs.:
lightning-arrester, a device to protect telegraphic apparatus, etc. from lightning;
lightning beetle = lightning-bug;
lightning-bone, ?
= fulgurite 1;
lightning box, a box used in producing stage-lightning;
lightning-bug = fire-fly 1;
lightning-catarrh (see
quot.);
lightning conductor, a metallic rod or wire fixed to the summit (or other exposed point) of a building, or the mast of a ship, to convey lightning harmlessly into the earth or sea;
lightning-discharger = lightning-arrester;
lightning express U.S., a designation given to certain very rapid trains;
lightning-pains pl., sharp, shooting pains of momentary duration, felt by patients suffering from locomotor ataxy (
Syd. Soc. Lex. 1888);
lightning-paper, a kind of firework giving off flashes of coloured light;
lightning-print, an appearance sometimes found on the skin of men and animals and on clothing struck by lightning, popularly supposed to be photographs of surrounding objects;
lightning-proof a., protected from lightning;
lightning-rod = lightning-conductor;
lightning-stone,
-tube = fulgurite 1.
| 1870 F. L. Pope Electr. Tel. iv. (1872) 44 *Lightning-arresters must always be kept free from dampness and dirt. |
| 1854 B. Jaeger Life of N. Amer. Insects 75 Some months since a lady..presented me two of these living *Lightning beetles. |
| 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. viii. 223 The name of ‘*lightning-bones’, or ‘thunder-bones’, given to fossil bones. |
| 1825 P. Egan Life of Actor ii. 67 *Lightning boxes, sheep hooks, and three harlequin's bats. 1855 ‘Q. K. P. Doesticks’ Doesticks, what he Says xxvi. 237 The prompter was stretched on the top of a canvas volcano, with the bell-rope in his hand, and his hair full of resin, from the ‘lightnin-box’. 1928 A. Rose Stage Effects 26 Fig. 20 is a simple but useful and convenient form of lightning box... One or more electric lights are to be in the centre of the box. |
| 1778 J. Carver Trav. N. Amer. xviii. 491 The *Lightning Bug or Fire Fly is about the size of a bee. 1806 Moore Song iv. Poems 166 Gleam then like the lightning-bug. 1842 Southern Lit. Messenger VIII. 199/2 It will never do to tell us that there is any humbug in this business, or even that it is a mere lightning-bug. 1850 Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. II. 206 The elegant fire-fly is called a lightning-bug. 1936 T. S. Eliot Coll. Poems 1909–1935 138 The small flare of the firefly or lightning bug. 1947 Chicago Tribune 21 June 2/4 He asserted that to ‘talk about Henry Wallace intimidating Harry Truman on the veto is like describing a lightning bug as blotting out the rays of the sun’. 1971 Lebende Sprachen XVI. 10/1 US lightning bug—BE/US firefly. |
| 1883 B. W. Richardson Field of Disease 52 A suddenly developed and intensely severe cold or catarrh, hence sometimes called ‘*lightning catarrh.’ |
| [1791 E. Darwin Bot. Garden i. Additional Notes 25 The design of these conductors is to permit the electric matter accumulated in the clouds to pass through them into the earth..and it would seem that the finer the point..the better, as it would take off the lightning while it was still at a greater distance.] 1814 W. Bentley Diary (1914) IV. 262 The post remained, retained on the side of the steeple by the *Lightning conductors. 1832 2nd Rep. Brit. Assoc. (1833) 564 This ship had not a lightning conductor up at the time. 1967 Everyman's Encycl. V. 429/1 He [sc. B. Franklin] estab. the identity of lightning with electricity.. and suggested the use of lightning conductors on large buildings. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Lightning-discharger. |
| 1860 O. W. Holmes Prof. Breakf-t. vi, The *lightning-express-train whishes by. |
| 1896 Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 346 In organic nervous diseases they [i.e. baths] are not to be recommended, unless it be to relieve the *lightning pains of tabes. |
| 1873 Spon Workshop Rec. 137 *Lightning Paper. |
| 1876 Chamb. Jrnl. 15 Jan. 36/1 Signor Orioli brought before a scientific congress at Naples four narratives relating to *lightning-prints. |
| 1855 Hyde Clarke Dict., *Lightning-proof. |
| 1790 in Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. (1793) III. 323 After a *lightening rod has been erected. 1860 Emerson Cond. Life, Worship Wks. (Bohn) II. 407 The lightning-rod that disarms the cloud of its threat. |
| 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. viii. 208 The *lightning-stones are metals, stones, pebbles, which the fire of the thunder has metamorphosed. |
| 1831 Literary Gaz. 15 Jan. 44/2 *Lightning Tubes—In the neigbourhood of the old castle of Remstein..there have been found this summer very firm and long vitreous tubes. |
▪ II. lightning, v. (
ˈlaɪtnɪŋ)
[f. the n.] = lighten v.
2 6. Also
fig.| 1903 Westm. Gaz. 16 Nov. 8/2 The two metal balls..thundered and lightninged as they delivered the message. 1926 H. Caine in Strand Mag. Jan. 20/1 Mr. Gladstone leapt to his feet, whereupon the air of the House thundered and lightninged for a short ten minutes. 1935 in Z. N. Hurston Mules & Men (1970) i. i. 27 You know, when it lightnings, de angels is peepin' in de lookin' glass. |