storms

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of storm.

   Tropical storms formed rapidly over the warm ocean waters.

   The region's worst storms tend to hit in late fall.

   Note

   A regular plural whose spelling is shared with the present-tense verb, so "the storms" and "she storms" differ only in what comes before them. In weather reports the noun can be exact: on the Beaufort scale, force 10 is a storm and force 11 a violent storm, so both grades count as storms. In looser use the plural also gathers rainstorms, snowstorms, hailstorms and thunderstorms.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of storm.

   Whenever the meeting goes badly, she storms off without a word.

   The general storms the fortress at first light.

   Note

   The -s form shows up in quite different frames. With the dummy subject it, "it storms" simply reports the weather, a use marked as American. With a real subject it can take a direct object: an army storms a stronghold, and a suitor storms someone's heart. That last use is a poetic, figurative extension of the military one, where the prize is a person's affection instead of a fortress.

   Out on the plains it storms most afternoons in July.

   He storms her heart with letters and songs.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2