Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Thunderbolt
Thun′der-boltˊ
,Noun.
1.
A shaft of lightning; a brilliant stream of electricity passing from one part of the heavens to another, or from the clouds to the earth.
2.
Something resembling lightning in suddenness and effectiveness.
The Scipios’ worth, those
thunderbolts
of war. Dryden.
3.
Vehement threatening or censure; especially, ecclesiastical denunciation; fulmination.
He severely threatens such with the
thunderbolt
of excommunication. Hakewill.
4.
(Paleon.)
A belemnite, or thunderstone.
Thunderbolt beetle
(Zool.)
, a long-horned beetle (
Arhopalus fulminans
) whose larva bores in the trunk of oak and chestnut trees. It is brownish and bluish-black, with W-shaped whitish or silvery markings on the elytra.Webster 1828 Edition
Thunderbolt
THUN'DERBOLT
,Noun.
1.
A shaft of lightning; a brilliant stream of the electrical fluid, passing from one part of the heavens to another, and particularly from the clouds to the earth. Ps.78.2.
Figuratively, a daring or irresistible hero; as the Scipios, those thunderbolts of war.3.
Fulmination; ecclesiastical denunciation. He severely threatens such with the thunderbolt of excommunication.
4.
In mineralogy, thunder-stone.