thunderbolt

English

Etymology

From thunder +‎ bolt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈθʌndə(ɹ)ˌboʊlt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

thunderbolt (plural thunderbolts)

1. A flash of lightning accompanied by a crash of thunder.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, OCLC 932920499; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iii:

     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, […]

2. (figuratively) An event that is terrible, horrific or unexpected.

   News of the actress’s death came as a thunderbolt to her fans.

   • 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 403869432:

     the Scipios' worth, those thunderbolts of war

   • 1819, Lord Byron, Mazeppa, a Poem, London: John Murray, […], OCLC 896751762, stanza I, lines 13–14, page 5:

     A greater wreck, a deeper fall, / A shock to one—a thunderbolt to all.

3. Vehement threatening or censure; especially, ecclesiastical denunciation; fulmination.
   • 1627, G[eorge] H[akewill], An Apologie of the Povver and Prouidence of God in the Gouernment of the VVorld. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Iohn Lichfield and VVilliam Turner, […], OCLC 863459859:

     a thunder-bolt of warre Striking all Nations

4. (soccer) A very powerful shot.
   • 2011 February 5, Michael Kevin Darling, “Tottenham 2 - 1 Bolton”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     Substitute Niko Kranjcar's injury-time thunderbolt gave Tottenham a dramatic win over Bolton.

5. (paleontology) A belemnite, or thunderstone.
6. (heraldry) A charge in the form of two joined bundles with four rays of lightning emerging from them, resembling the thunderbolt of Jupiter.
7. A daring or irresistible hero.

Derived terms

• thunderbolt beetle

Translations

flash of lightning accompanied by thunder

• Arabic: صَاعِقَة‎ (ṣāʿiqa)
• Bulgarian: мълния (bg) f (mǎlnija), гръмотевица (bg) f (grǎmotevica)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 霹靂 (zh), 霹雳 (zh) (pīlì), 迅雷 (zh) (xùnléi)

• Chuvash: ҫиҫӗм (śiś̬ĕm)
• Dutch: bliksemstraal (nl), donderstraal (nl), donderslag (nl)
• Finnish: salamanisku (fi), ukkosenjyrähdys, salama (fi)
• French: coup de tonnerre (fr) m
• Friulian: folc m, saete f, sfulmin
• Galician: lóstrego (gl) m
• German: Donnerkeil (de) m, Blitzstrahl m, Blitz mit Donnerschlag m
• Greek: κεραυνός (el) m (keravnós), αστραπή (el) f (astrapí)

  Ancient: κεραυνός m (keraunós)

• Hungarian: villámcsapás (hu)
• Istriot: sàita f
• Italian: fulmine (it), folgore (it), saetta (it), lampo (it)
• Japanese: 雷 (ja) (かみなり, kaminari), 落雷 (ja) (らくらい, rakurai)
• Korean: 벼락 (ko) (byeorak)
• Latin: fulmen n
• Low German: Blitzsteen m
• Maori: epa
• Norman: foudre f
• Persian: رعد و برق‎ (ra'd-o-barq), صاعقه‎ (fa) (sâ'eqe), آذرخش‎ (fa) (âzaraxš)
• Polish: piorun (pl) m
• Portuguese: raio (pt) m
• Romanian: fulger (ro) n
• Russian: уда́р мо́лнии m (udár mólnii), перу́н (ru) m (perún) (dated, poetic)
• Sanskrit: अशनि (sa) f (aśani), कुलिश (sa) (kuliśa), वज्र (sa) (vajra)
• Spanish: rayo (es) m
• Swedish: vigg (sv) c, tordön (sv) c, åskknall (sv) c
• Tajik: соиқа (tg) (soyiqa)
• Telugu: పిడుగు (te) (piḍugu)
• Thai: สายฟ้า (th) (sǎai-fáa)
• Turkish: yıldırım (tr)
• Venetian: sita f, saéta f
• Welsh: taranau, taranfollt

an event that is terrible, horrific or unexpected

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: järkytys (fi)
• Greek: κεραυνός (el) m (keravnós)
• Korean: 벼락 (ko) (byeorak)
• Polish: grom z jasnego nieba m
• Russian: гром среди́ я́сного не́ба (ru) m (grom sredí jásnovo néba)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: పిడుగుపాటు (piḍugupāṭu)

See also

• thunderclap
• thunderstroke