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1. (n.) lightning
a brilliant electric spark discharge in the atmosphere, occurring within or between clouds, or between a cloud and the ground.
2. (v.i.) lightning
to emit flashes of lightning (often used impersonally with it as subject):
Go inside if it starts to lightning.
3. (adj.) lightning
of, pertaining to, or resembling lightning, esp. in regard to speed:
lightning flashes.
Etymology: (1350–1400; ME, var. of lightening. See lighten1, -ing1)
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| Definition of 'Lightning' |
Princeton's WordNet |
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1. (noun) lightning
abrupt electric discharge from cloud to cloud or from cloud to earth accompanied by the emission of light
2. (noun) lightning
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
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1. (noun) lightning
flashes of light in the sky during a storm
a flash of lightning followed by thunder
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| Definition of 'Lightning' |
Webster Dictionary |
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1. (noun) Lightning
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. (noun) Lightning
the act of making bright, or the state of being made bright; enlightenment; brightening, as of the mental powers
3. Lightning
lightening
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| Definition of 'Lightning' |
U.S. National Library of Medicine |
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1. Lightning
An abrupt high-current electric discharge that occurs in the ATMOSPHERE and that has a path length ranging from hundreds of feet to tens of miles. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed)
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| Definition of 'Lightning' |
The Standard Electrical Dictionary |
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1. Lightning
The electrostatic discharge to the earth or among themselves of clouds floating in the atmosphere. The discharge is accompanied by a spark or other luminous effect, which may be very bright and the effects, thermal and mechanical, are often of enormous intensity.
The lightning flash is white near the earth, but in the upper regions where the air is rarefied it is of a blue tint, like the spark of the electric machine. The flashes are often over a mile in length, and sometimes are four or five miles long. They have sometimes a curious sinuous and often a branching shape, which has been determined by photography only recently. To the eye the shape seems zigzag.
In the case of a mile-long flash it has been estimated that 3,516,480 De la Rue cells, q. v., would be required for the development of the potential, giving the flash over three and one-half millions of volts. But as it is uncertain how far the discharge is helped on its course by the rain drops this estimate may be too high.
There are two general types of flash. The so-called zigzag flash resembles the spark of an electric machine, and is undoubtedly due to the disruptive discharge from cloud to earth. Sheet lightning has no shape, simply is a sudden glow, and from examination of the spectrum appears to be brush discharges (see Discharge, Brush) between clouds. Heat lightning is attributed to flashes below the horizon whose light only is seen by us. Globe or ball lightning takes the form of globes of fire, sometimes visible for ten seconds, descending from the clouds. On reaching the earth they sometimes rebound, and sometimes explode with a loud detonation. No adequate explanation has been found for them.
The flash does not exceed one-millionth of a second in duration; its absolute light is believed to be comparable to that of the sun, but its brief duration makes its total light far less than that of the sun for any period of time.
If the disruptive discharge passes through a living animal it is often fatal. As it reaches the earth it often has power enough to fuse sand, producing fulgurites, q. v. (See also Back Shock or Stroke of Lightning.)
Volcanic lightning, which accompanies the eruptions of volcanoes, is attributed to friction of the volcanic dust and to vapor condensation.
[Transcriber's note: The origin of lightning is still (2008) not fully understood, but is thought to relate to charge separation in the vertical motion of water droplets and ice crystals in cloud updrafts. A lightning bolt carries a current of 40,000 to 120,000 amperes, and transfers a charge of about five coulombs. Nearby air is heated to about 10,000 °C (18,000 °F), almost twice the temperature of the Sun’s surface.]
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Sense: a flash of electricity between clouds or from a cloud to earth during a storm, usually followed by thunder
The house was struck by lightning.
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 Afrikaans: weerlig |
 Arabic: بَرْق |
 Bulgarian: мълния |
 Brazilian: raio |
 Czech: blesk |
 German: der Blitz |
 Danish: lyn |
 Greek: αστραπή |
 Spanish: rayo, relámpago |
 Estonian: välk |
 Farsi: صاعقه |
 Finnish: salama |
 French: éclair, foudre |
 Hebrew: בָּרָק |
 Hindi: बिजली, तड़ित |
 Croatian: munja |
 Hungarian: villám(lás) |
 Indonesian: kilat |
 Icelandic: elding |
 Italian: fulmine |
 Japanese: 稲妻 |
 Korean: 번개 |
 Lithuanian: žaibas |
 Latvian: zibens |
 Malay: petir; kilat |
 Dutch: bliksem |
 Norwegian: lyn |
 Polish: błyskawica, piorun |
 Persian: ،مانند رعد و برق صاعقه |
 Pashto: تالنده، تندر |
 Portuguese: raio |
 Romanian: fulger |
 Russian: молния |
 Slovak: blesk |
 Slovenian: strela |
 Serbian: munja |
 Swedish: blixt |
 Thai: ฟ้าแล่บ |
 Turkish: yıldırım, şimşek |
 Taiwanese: 閃電 |
 Ukrainian: блискавка |
 Urdu: آسمانی بجلی کا کوندا |
 Vietnamese: chớp |
 Chinese: 闪电 |
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