# lightning

Pronunciation: say "LYT-ning" /ˈlaɪt.nɪŋ/

## Noun

1. A sudden, high-voltage discharge of electricity within a cloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the ground, seen as a bright flash of light.
   - Simple: The bright flash of electricity in the sky during a storm.
   - _Investigators concluded that the forest fire had been started by lightning, not by campers._
   - _Lightning struck the church spire and sent bricks crashing into the street._
3. Anything that moves very fast, described as though it were lightning itself.
   - Simple: Someone or something that moves very, very fast.
   - _The mongoose was lightning, darting aside before the cobra could strike._
   - _Off the starting blocks the young sprinter was pure lightning._

## Adjective

2. Done or happening with extreme speed or suddenness, like a flash of lightning.
   - Simple: Very fast or sudden, as if moving as quickly as lightning.
   - _The army launched a lightning attack on the capital before dawn._
   - _Thanks to her lightning reflexes, the goalkeeper stopped the shot._

## Verb

4. To produce lightning; used impersonally, with it as the subject. *(nonstandard)*
   - Simple: To make flashes of lightning, with it as the subject.
   - _All through the night it thundered and lightninged over the campground._
   - _"Get out of the pool if it starts to lightning," the lifeguard told the kids._

## Noun

5. Gin, the alcoholic spirit. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Gin, a strong alcohol drink.

## Origin

A doublet of lightening, built by adding the suffix -ing to light(e)n.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/lightning (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).