English Online Dictionary. What means lightning? What does lightning mean?
English
Wikiversity
Etymology
From light(e)n + -ing. Doublet of lightening.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈlaɪt.nɪŋ/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈlaɪt.nɪŋ/, [ˈlʌɪ̯ʔ.nɪŋ], [ˈlɐɪ̯ʔ.nɪŋ]
- Rhymes: -aɪtnɪŋ
Noun
lightning (usually uncountable, plural lightnings)
- A flash of light produced by short-duration, high-voltage discharge of electricity within a cloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the earth.
- A discharge of this kind.
- (figuratively) Anything that moves very fast.
- (archaic, slang) Gin.
- Obsolete form of lightening.
Usage notes
- bolt, flash, strike are some of the words used to count lightning.
Coordinate terms
- thunder (noise), thunderbolt (instance), fulgural (adjective)
Derived terms
Translations
Adjective
lightning (not comparable)
- Extremely fast or sudden; moving (as if) at the speed of lightning.
Translations
Verb
lightning (third-person singular simple present lightnings, present participle lightninging, simple past and past participle lightninged)
- (impersonal, childish or nonstandard, intransitive) To produce lightning.
Usage notes
- The standard, but rare, verb for "produce lightning" is lighten, used only in the impersonal form "it lightens", or as "it’s lightening".