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Webster 1913 Edition


Thunder

Thun′der

,
Noun.
[OE.
þunder
,
þonder
,
þoner
, AS.
þunor
; akin to
þunian
to stretch, to thunder, D.
donder
thunder, G.
donner
, OHG.
donar
, Icel.
þōrr
Thor, L.
tonare
to thunder,
tonitrus
thunder, Gr.
τόνοσ
a stretching, straining, Skr.
tan
to stretch. √52. See
Thin
, and cf.
Astonish
,
Detonate
,
Intone
,
Thursday
,
Tone
.]
1.
The sound which follows a flash of lightning; the report of a discharge of atmospheric electricity.
2.
The discharge of electricity; a thunderbolt.
[Obs.]
The revenging gods
’Gainst parricides did all their
thunders
bend.
Shakespeare
3.
Any loud noise;
as, the
thunder
of cannon
.
4.
An alarming or statrling threat or denunciation.
The
thunders
of the Vatican could no longer strike into the heart of princes.
Prescott.
Thunder pumper
.
(Zool.)
(a)
The croaker (
Haploidontus grunniens
).
(b)
The American bittern or stake-driver.
Thunder rod
,
a lightning rod.
[R.]
Thunder snake
.
(Zool.)
(a)
The chicken, or milk, snake.
(b)
A small reddish ground snake (
Carphophis amoena
syn.
Celuta amoena
) native to the Eastern United States; – called also
worm snake
.
Thunder tube
,
a fulgurite. See
Fulgurite
.

Thun′der

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Thundered
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Thundering
.]
[AS.
þunrian
. See
Thunder
,
Noun.
]
1.
To produce thunder; to sound, rattle, or roar, as a discharge of atmospheric electricity; – often used impersonally;
as, it
thundered
continuously
.
Canst thou
thunder
with a voice like him?
Job xl. 9.
2.
Fig.: To make a loud noise; esp. a heavy sound, of some continuance.
His dreadful voice no more
Would
thunder
in my ears.
Milton.
3.
To utter violent denunciation.

Thun′der

,
Verb.
T.
To emit with noise and terror; to utter vehemently; to publish, as a threat or denunciation.
Oracles severe
Were daily
thundered
in our general's ear.
Dryden.
An archdeacon, as being a prelate, may
thunder
out an ecclesiastical censure.
Ayliffe.

Webster 1828 Edition


Thunder

THUN'DER

,
Noun.
[L. tonitru, from tono, to sound.]
1.
The sound which follows an explosion of electricity or lightning; the report of a discharge of electrical fluid, that is, of its passage from one cloud to another, or from a cloud to the earth, or from the earth to a cloud. When this explosion is near to a person, the thunder is a rattling or clattering sound, and when distant, the sound is heavy and rumbling. The fact is in some degree the same with the report of a cannon. This sharpness or acuteness of the sound when near, and the rumbling murmur when distant, are the principal distinctions in thunder. [Thunder is not lightning, but the effect of it. See Johnson's dictionary_webster1828, under thunder.]
There were thunders and lightnings. Ex.19.
2.
Thunder is used for lightning, or for a thunderbolt, either originally through ignorance, or by way of metaphor, or because the lightning and thunder are closely united.
The revenging gods
'Gainst parricides all the thunder bend.
3.
Any loud noise; as the thunder of cannon.
Sons of thunder. Mark 3.
4.
Denunciation published; as the thunders of the Vatican.

THUN'DER

,
Verb.
I.
To sound, rattle or roar, as an explosion of electricity.
Canst thou thunder with a voice like him? Job 40.
1.
To make a loud noise, particularly a heavy sound of some continuance.
His dreadful voice no more
Would thunder in my ears.
2.
To rattle, or give a heavy rattling sound.
And roll the thund'ring chariot o'er the ground.

THUN'DER

,
Verb.
T.
To emit with noise and terror.
Oracles severe
Were daily thunder'd in our gen'ral's ear.
1.
To publish any denunciation or threat.
An archdeacon, as being a prelate, may thunder out an ecclesiastical censure.

Definition 2024


thunder

thunder

See also: thundër

English

Noun

thunder (countable and uncountable, plural thunders)

  1. The sound caused by the discharge of atmospheric electrical charge.
    Thunder is preceded by lightning.
  2. A sound resembling thunder; especially, one produced by a jet airplane in flight.
  3. A deep, rumbling noise.
    Off in the distance, he heard the thunder of hoofbeats, signalling a stampede.
  4. An alarming or startling threat or denunciation.
    • Prescott
      The thunders of the Vatican could no longer strike into the heart of princes.
  5. (obsolete) The discharge of electricity; a thunderbolt.
    • Shakespeare
      The revenging gods / 'Gainst parricides did all their thunders bend.
  6. (figuratively) The spotlight.

Usage notes

  • roll, clap, peal are some of the words used to count thunder.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Verb

thunder (third-person singular simple present thunders, present participle thundering, simple past and past participle thundered)

  1. To produce thunder; to sound, rattle, or roar, as a discharge of atmospheric electricity; often used impersonally.
    It thundered continuously.
  2. (intransitive) To make a noise like thunder.
    The train thundered along the tracks.
  3. (intransitive) To talk with a loud, threatening voice.
  4. (transitive) To say (something) with a loud, threatening voice.
    "Get back to work at once!", he thundered.
  5. To produce something with incredible power
    • 2011 January 19, Jonathan Stevenson, “Leeds 1 - 3 Arsenal”, in BBC:
      Just as it appeared Arsenal had taken the sting out of the tie, Johnson produced a moment of outrageous quality, thundering a bullet of a left foot shot out of the blue and into the top left-hand corner of Wojciech Szczesny's net with the Pole grasping at thin air.

Derived terms

  • (to say something with a loud, threatening voice): thunderer

See also

Translations