thunderbolt en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈθʌndə(ɹ)ˌboʊlt/
- (US) audio
Etymology
From thunder + bolt.
Meanings
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A flash of lightning accompanied by a crash of thunder.
He describes the operation thus: "The heavy ram employed to impart the finishing strokes, hoisted up with double purchase and snail's pace to the summit of the Piling Engine, and then falling down like a thunderbolt on the head of the devoted timber, driving it perhaps a single half inch in to the stratum below, is well calculated to put to the test the virtue of patience, while it illustrates the old adage of—slow and sure."
1952 July, W. R. Watson, “Sankey Viaduct and Embankment”, in Railway Magazine, page 487:And the sword that had visited Earth from so far away smote like the falling of thunderbolts [...] and the runes in Alveric’s far-travelled sword exulted, and roared at the elf-knight; until in the dark of the wood, amongst branches severed from disenchanted trees, with a blow like that of a thunderbolt riving an oak-tree, Alveric slew him.
1924, Lord Dunsany, chapter III, in The King of Elfland's Daughter, New York: G.P. Puttnam's Sons, page 30:Our quiuering Lances ſhaking in the aire, / And bullets like Ioues dreadfull Thunderbolts, / Enrolde in flames and fiery ſmoldering miſtes, / Shall threat the Gods more than Cyclopian warres, […]
c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iii:
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(figuratively) An event that is terrible, horrific or unexpected.
A greater wreck, a deeper fall, / A shock to one—a thunderbolt to all.
1819, Lord Byron, Mazeppa, a Poem, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza I, page 5, lines 13–14:the Scipios' worth, those thunderbolts of war
1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:News of the actress’s death came as a thunderbolt to her fans.
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Vehement threatening or censure; especially, ecclesiastical denunciation; fulmination.
a thunder-bolt of warre Striking all Nations
1627, G[eorge] H[akewill], An Apologie of the Power and Prouidence of God in the Gouernment of the World. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Iohn Lichfield and William Turner, […], →OCLC:
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A very powerful shot.
Substitute Niko Kranjcar's injury-time thunderbolt gave Tottenham a dramatic win over Bolton.
2011 February 5, Michael Kevin Darling, “Tottenham 2 - 1 Bolton”, in BBC:
- A belemnite, or thunderstone.
- A charge in the form of two joined bundles with four rays of lightning emerging from them, resembling the thunderbolt of Jupiter.
- A daring or irresistible hero.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| thunderbolts | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Relateds
thunderclap · lightning bolt · thunderstroke
Translations (79)
fur folc (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · ru перу́н (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · ru гром среди́ я́сного не́ба (an event that is terrible, horrific or unexpected) · fi salama (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · cmn 迅雷 (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · fur saete (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · tr yıldırım (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · nl donderslag (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · fi järkytys (an event that is terrible, horrific or unexpected) · tg соиқа (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · it lampo (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · th สายฟ้า (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · ko 벼락 (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · mi epa (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · te పిడుగుపాటు (an event that is terrible, horrific or unexpected) · cv ҫиҫӗм (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · cmn 霹靂 /霹雳 (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · id petir (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · el κεραυνός (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · nl donderstraal (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · bg мълния (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · it folgore (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · fa آذرخش (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · it saetta (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · ca raig de llamp (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · fa صاعقه (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · es rayo (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · pl piorun (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · fur sfulmin (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · ro fulger (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · vec saéta (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · hi वज्रपात (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · sq rrufe (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · ru уда́р мо́лнии (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · sv vigg (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · te పిడుగు (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · grc κεραυνός (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · ml അശനി (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · sv tordön (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · ml മിന്നൽപ്പിണർ (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · de Blitz mit Donnerschlag (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · la ictus fulminis (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · ota صاعقه (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · sa कुलिश (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · ja 雷 (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · ml ദംഭോളി (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · ar صَاعِقَة (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · cy taranau (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · fr coup de tonnerre (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · sa वज्र (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · la tonitrus (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · sv åskknall (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · ca llampec (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · el κεραυνός (an event that is terrible, horrific or unexpected) · ota یلدرم (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · ko 벼락 (an event that is terrible, horrific or unexpected) · nl bliksemstraal (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · it fulmine (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · ml ഇടിവാൾ (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · cy taranfollt (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · pl grom z jasnego nieba (an event that is terrible, horrific or unexpected) · de Donnerkeil (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · de Blitzstrahl (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · bg гръмотевица (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · el αστραπή (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · fa رعد و برق (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · nds Blitzsteen (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · ja 落雷 (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · nrf foudre (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · pt raio (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · la fulmen (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · vec sita (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · la ictus fulgōris (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · hu villámcsapás (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · gl lóstrego (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · fi ukkosenjyrähdys (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · sa अशनि (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · fi salamanisku (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder) · ist sàita (flash of lightning accompanied by thunder)