Forms: α. 1 þunor, -er; 2–3 dative þunre, 3–5 þonre; 4 thonir, -yr(e, -ure, thunure, thonner, -ere, -ir, 4–5 thoner, -or, 5 thonere, thonour, thouner, thownyr, 6–9 Sc. and north. dial. thunner. β. 3 ðhunder, 3–4 þondre, 3–5 þonder, 3–6 thundre, 4 þundir, thundir, 4–5 þunder, þondir, -ur, 4–6 thonder, thondre, thoundre (6 -ir), 5 þundre, thundyr, thwndur, thondour, (dondyr), 5–6 thondir, Sc. thwndyr, 9 s. w. dial. thinder, 5– thunder. [OE. þunor, ME. þoner, etc. (later þonder, etc. with epenthetic d) = OFris. thuner, OS. thuner, (MDu., Du. donder), OHG. donar (MHG. doner, G. donner), ON. þórr, (:—*þonr-: cf. Da. torden, Sw. tordön ‘Thor’s din’):—OTeut. *þonar-oz f. Indo-Eur. ablaut series *ten, ton, tn to stretch, resound, whence Skr. tan to sound, L. tonāre to thunder; cf. Skr. stan to sound, sigh, thunder, Gr. στέν-ειν to groan. (The -on- in ME. was the usual way of writing -un-, to avoid confusion.)]
1. The loud noise accompanying a flash of lightning (apparently following it, being heard after it at an interval depending on distance), due to the sudden violent disturbance of the air by the electric discharge; varying from a sharp report or crash to a prolonged roll or reverberation. Also, the unseen cause of the phenomenon, the meteorological condition or action (scientifically, the electric storm and discharge) from which the loud noise proceeds.
The popular use vaguely includes the phenomenon and its cause.
α. [c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (O.E.T.), 1152. Jovem, þuner.]
a. 800. Riddles, xlvii. 22. (Gr.). Stefne ðunures micles.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., John xii. 29. Ðe here forðon ðio stod & ʓeherde cuoedun ðuner þætte auorden.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 280. Swa hattra sumor, swa mara ðunor & liʓet on ʓeare.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 43. Heore eþem scean swa deð þe leit a-monge þunre.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 22143. Thoner o-loft fal sal he gar.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 160. Tonere, thonner.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter lxxvi[i]. 17 [18]. Þe voice of þi thunure in whele.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xxxi. 140. We ware … striken doune to þe erthe with grete hidous blastez of wind and of thouner.
1483. Cath. Angl., 384/1. A Thonour, tonitruus. Ibid., 387/2. A Thownyr.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxvii. 35. Ane rak of fartis lyk ony thunner.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., xxxvii. Rather than ye suld ride on in the rain and thunner.
β. c. 1250. Ðhunder [see b].
c. 1290. St. Brendan, 473, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 232. Gret betynge and noyse i-nouȝ, þondre ase þei it were.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, II. 100. The god of thonder Whiche that men callen Iupiter.
c. 1460. Brut, 510. A gret tempest of thondre & lightenyng.
c. 1475. Pict. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 802/1. Hic tonitrus, thwndur.
1549. Compl. Scot., vi. 59. The thoundir is ane corrupt fume generit on the eird.
1595. Shaks., John, V. ii. 173. A drumme … That shall … mocke the deepe mouth’d Thunder.
1753. Hogarth, Anal. Beauty, xii. 97. By the decreasing noise of thunder, we form the idea of its moving further from us.
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., viii. [ix.]. The cloud … began now, by one or two distant peals, to announce the thunders with which it was fraught.
1858. Stanley, Sinai & Pal., ii. 124. The thunder, heard, not … in short and broken peals, but in one continuous roll.
Mod. It is a sultry day; I think there must be thunder about. The farmer’s wife says that the thunder turns the milk.
b. Regarded as the destructive agent producing the effects usually attributed to the lightning; (with a and pl.) a thunderstroke or ‘thunderbolt.’ Now only poet. or rhet. (exc. fig.).
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., IV. ii. § 1. Þunor tosloʓ heora hiehstan godes hus. Ibid., VI. xxix. Hiene ofsloʓ an þunor.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 1108. Oc siðen loth wente ut of hine, Brende it ðhunder, sanc it erðe-dine.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 109. Fro the sky A firy thonder sodeinly He sende, and him to pouldre smot.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), ii. 7. Þer schall na thunder ne na maner of tempest dere him.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst. iii. 346. Thise thoners and levyn downe gar fall … Castels and towres.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., I. iii. 81. Let thy blowes … Fall like amazing thunder on the Caske Of thy amaz’d pernicious enemy.
1686. trans. Chardin’s Trav. Persia, 209. The Thunder had thrown down a good part of it.
1707. Curios. in Husb. & Gard., 243. The Thunder fell upon her, and kill’d her out-right.
1751. MacSparran, Diary (1899), 61. The Thunder struck Col. Northrup.
1769. Cook, Voy. round World, II. ii. (1773), 304. To acquaint them that we had weapons which, like thunder, would destroy them in a moment.
1820. Shelley, Vis. Sea, 61. Six the thunder has smitten, And they lie black as mummies.
c. (with a and pl.) A peal of thunder, a thunderclap. Now only poet. or rhet.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 280. Þa þuneras … on apocalipsin synd gastlice to understandenne.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 18124. Þar come a mikel steuen, Als it a thoner war of heuen.
1382. Wyclif, Rev. x. 3. Whan he hadde cried, seuen thundres spaken her voices.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. xliii. 21. Thunders are nothing els but the blows and thumps given by the fires beating hard upon the clouds.
c. 1665. Baxter, in Reliq., 23 April, an. 1661 (1696), 303. As they were returning from Westminster-hall, there was very terrible Thunders, when none expected it.
1700. Dryden, Cymon & Iphigenia, 334. The thunders roll, the forky lightning flies.
1842. Tennyson, Talking Oak, 279. Low thunders bring the mellow rain. Ibid. (1855), Maud, II. iv. 49. And a sullen thunder is roll’d.
d. (with a and pl.) A thunderstorm. Obs. exc. dial.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 6019. Was a weder ful selcut snell, A thonor [v.rr. þondre, thoner, þondur] wit an haile sua kene.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xiv. 65. In somer es þer grete thundres and leightens.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 7619. A thondir with a thicke Rayn thrublit in þe skewes.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, VII. xxxi. 263. Thenne felle there a thonder and a rayne as heuen and erthe shold goo to gyder.
1623. Bingham, Xenophon, III. i. 42. It seemed to him, that in a thunder the bolt fell vpon his Fathers House.
1665. E. Digges, in Phil. Trans., I. 26. Our Country of Virginia is very much subject to Thunders.
1892. Hewett, Peas. Sp. Devon, 101. I zim arter thease mizzle us chell ’ave a thinder.
2. transf. Any loud deep rumbling or resounding noise. (Also with a and pl.)
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., IV. i. 123. I was with Hercules and Cadmus once, When … they bayed the Beare With hounds of Sparta…. I neuer heard So musicall a discord, such sweet thunder. Ibid. (1595), John, I. i. 26. The thunder of my Cannon shall be heard.
1611. Bible, Job xxxix. 25. He smelleth the battaile afarre off, the thunder of the captaines, and the shouting.
a. 1674. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., XVI. § 245. One continued thunder of Cannon.
c. 1800. H. K. White, Poems (1837), 143. Let the pealing organ play; And, while the harmonious thunders roll [etc.].
1807–8. Syd. Smith, Plymley’s Lett., vii. Wks. 1859, II. 162/2. Thunders of applause from the pit and the galleries.
1847. Tennyson, Princ., II. 452. The great organ … rolling thro’ the court A long melodious thunder.
1847. Concordia Intelligencer, 3 July, 3/1. The pleasant hills and cool ravines resounded continuously with the musical thunder of human laughter.
1887. Bowen, Virg. Eclogue, V. 83. The thunder of surf on the shore.
3. fig. a. Threatening, terrifying, or strongly impressive utterance; awful denunciation, menace, censure, or invective, ‘fulmination’; vehement or powerful eloquence. (sing. and pl.)
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 288. Drede we nouȝt þis þondir, for it turneþ aȝen & cursiþ þe welle þat it come fro.
c. 1540. Nisbet, N. T. in Scot., Prol. Romans (S.T.S.), III. 332. But the spret mon first cum,… and with the thwndyr of the lawe feare himn.
1693. G. Stepny, in Dryden’s Juvenal, VIII. (1697), 197. Who felt the Thunder of the States Decree.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 407, ¶ 1. Pouring out the Thunder of his Rhetorick.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xxi. (1869), I. 591. He directed the thunders of the church against heresy.
1852. Miss Yonge, Cameos, I. xxvii. 220. The barons … thought little of the thunders of the Pope.
1879. Farrar, St. Paul, II. viii. (1883), 117. Something … made him [Stephen] … hurl in their faces the gathered thunder of his wrath and scorn.
b. In phrases denoting great force or energy (chiefly in versions or imitations of the Scriptures).
1535. Coverdale, Job xxvi. 14. Who can perecaue and vnderstonde ye thondre of his power?
1611. Bible, Job xxxix. 19. Hast thou clothed his necke with thunder?
1754. Gray, Poesy, 106. With necks in thunder cloath’d, and long resounding pace.
1796. Eliza Hamilton, Lett. Hindoo Rajah (1811), I. 83. One of their ships of war, a huge edifice, whose sides were clothed with thunder.
1818, 1887. [see thunder-maned, -shod below].
c. Struck with thunder = THUNDERSTRUCK 2 a. rare–1.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xxiv. ‘I am struck with thunder!’ said Crèveœur, ‘Liege in insurrection!—… the Bishop murdered!’
4. slang or colloq. Used vaguely in exclamations, imprecations, and expletive or intensive phrases.
1709–10. Steele, Tatler, No. 137, ¶ 3. Thunder, Furies, and Damnation! I’ll cut your Ears off.
1842. S. Lover, Handy Andy, xxv. ‘Thunder and turf!’ said the drunken giant.
1891. C. Roberts, Adrift Amer., 66. Why in thunder, if you were hungry, did you not come and tell me?
1894. A. Robertson, Nuggets, etc., 79. Where in thunder did he get the money?
5. attrib. and Comb. a. attrib. Of, as of, pertaining to, or connected with thunder, as thunder-crash, -fire, -gloom, -place, -psalm, -rain, -roll, -scar, -sky, -tent, -volley, -weather; violent, destructive, or (esp.) loud as thunder, as thunder-blow, -bullet, -curse, -music, -shout, -voice, -yell. b. objective, etc., as thunder-thrower; thunder-breathing, -forging, -guiding, -ruling, -throwing, -wielding adjs.; thunder-delighting (delighting in thunder), -fearless, free, -proof, -rejoicing adjs.; thunder-like adj. and adv. c. instrumental, as thunder-armed, -baffled, -charged, -fraught, -girt, -hid, -laden, riven, -scarred, -scathed, -shod, -smitten, -splintered, -split, -splitten, -teeming, -thwarted, -tipped adjs. d. parasynthetic and similative, as thunder-footed, -maned, -tongued adjs.
1620. Middleton & Rowley, World Tost at Tennis, 221. Imperial-crown’d, and *thunder-armèd Jove.
1819. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., III. ii. 12. An eagle … his *thunder-baffled wings Entangled in the whirlwind.
1878. B. Taylor, Deukalion, I. iii. 28. We saw the *thunder-blows Given and taken.
1826. E. Irving, Babylon, II. 380. Our *thunder-breathing ships.
1605. Tryall Chev., I. ii., in Bullen, O. Pl. (1884), III. 276. Lov’dst thou a towne, Ide teach thee how to woo her With words of *thunder-bullets wrapt in fire.
1844. Lever, Tom Burke, II. 162. A mass of heavy … clouds, dark and *thunder-charged.
1826. K. Digby, Broadst. Hon. (1846), II. Tancredus, 5. The *thunder-crash broke over our heads.
1650. Weldon, Crt. Jas. I. (1817), 31. This dreadful *thunder-curse or imprecation.
1839. Bailey, Festus, xix. (1852), 305. As an angel when He hears the thunder-curse of demon foe.
1848. Buckley, Iliad, 15. *Thunder-delighting Jove.
1608. Beaum. & Fl., Four Plays in One, Induct. Low at your sacred feet our poor muse lays Her, and her *thunder-fearless verdant bayes.
1855. Bailey, Spir. Leg., in Mystic, etc. 115. Rooted out … with threefold *thunder-fires. Ibid. (1839), Festus, xx. (1852), 343. The *thunder-footed coursers of the sun.
1779. R. Potter, trans. Æschylus (ed. 2), I. 106. The *thunder-forging Cyclopes.
1810. S. Rogers, To old Oak, iv. Many a navy *thunder-fraught.
1841. Browning, Pippa Passes, II. 59. A Greek, in Athens,… Feasting, bay-filleted and *thunder-free. Ibid. (1853), Johannes Agric., 14. Ere stars were *thundergirt.
1848. Lytton, Harold, VII. iv. Some *thunder-gloom of thine own destiny.
1868. Alex. Smith, Last Leaves, 154. He could watch the purple thunder-gloom gathering on the distant hills.
1874. Geo. Eliot, Coll. Breakf. P., 314. Rule Of *thunder-guiding powers.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. (1823), LXXXI. iii. *Thunder-hid I answer gave.
1865. trans. Strauss’s New Life Jesus, I. I. xliii. 373. The *thunder-laden Revelation.
1607. Shaks., Cor., I. iv. 59. With thy grim lookes, and The *Thunder-like percussion of thy sounds.
1826. Mrs. Shelley, Last Man, II. 73. A crash was heard. Thunderlike it reverberated through the sky.
1846. Browning, Lett., 7 Sept. How hot and thunder-like this oppressive air!
1878. Milman, Samor, 50. The *thunder-maned steed.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., LXXXVII. ii. I … heard … *thunder-music, rolling, shake The prophets blazon’d on the panes.
1599. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Hum., I. iii. Vnlesse his house and skin were *thunder-proofe.
1733. Tull, Horse-Hoeing Husb., xiii. 149. The Giants found that even Mountains were not Thunder-Proof.
1823. Shelley, Chas. I., iv. 58. Through palaces and temples thunderproof. Ibid. (1821), Epipsych., 465. The wingèd storms, chaunting their *thunder-psalm To other lands.
1826. Mrs. Hemans, Forest Sanctuary, I. xiv. Sounds of thickening steps, like *thunder-rain That plashes on the roof.
1848. Buckley, Iliad, 45. In honour of *thunder-rejoicing Jove.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., II. viii. The fire-baptised soul, long so scathed and *thunder-riven.
1844. Mrs. Browning, Rhapsody Life’s Progr., v. Let the cloud meet the cloud in a grand *thunder-roll!
1749. G. West, Hymn of Cleanthes, 49. O great father, *thunder-ruling god!
1710. Philips, Pastorals, 2. Yonder naked tree Which bears the *thunder-scar.
1842. Sir A. de Vere, Song of Faith, 198. Cliffs … Wave-worn and *thunder-scarred.
1846. Prowett, Prom. Bound, 18. His brawny force All *thunder-scathed and cindered.
1887. G. Meredith, Ballads & Poems, 78. O for the time when *thunder-shod He champed the grain of the wrath of God.
1863. Tyndall, Heat, vi. § 210. The Earth … rang with the *thunder-shout of the liberated prisoner.
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., ix. [x.]. The heavy and gloomy appearance of the *thunder-sky.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, III. 395. The … bare, *thunder-smitten tree.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., I. xi. A rocky pyramid, Shooting abruptly from the dell Its *thunder-splinter’d pinnacle.
1825. J. Wilson, Poems, II. 39. Like a *thunder-split oak-tree.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xlv. The shattered and *thunder-splitten peaks of Arran.
1761. Glover, Media, III. vi. 51. No *thunder-teeming cloud.
1818. Keats, Endym., III. 27. Ethereal things, that … Can … poise about in cloudy *thunder-tents.
1614. Sylvester, Bethulia’s Rescue, I. 315. Vassals of the *Thunder-Thrower. Ibid. (1605), Du Bartas, II. iii. IV. Captaines, 920. God’s *Thunder-throwing hand.
1855. Bailey, Spir. Leg., in Mystic, etc., 127. Black Babel’s *thunder-thwarted pile.
1822. T. Mitchell, Com. Aristoph., II. 209. Speed With your tongues *thunder-tipt and tell Cleon our need.
1843. Carlyle, Past & Pr., I. v. It is Fact, speaking … in miraculous *thunder-voice.
a. 1847. Eliza Cook, Song Seaweed, iii. The *thunder-volley shakes.
13[?]. K. Alis., 3729 (Bodl. MS.). Hij holdeþ hem alle togidre So flok of dere in *þonder wedre.
1900. Sutcliffe, Shameless Wayne, xxiv. 301. This thunner-weather that’s coming up.
1816. Wordsw., Feelings of French Royalist, 13. The *thunder-wielding hands Of Justice.
1887. Bowen, Virg. Æneid, I. 298. Still yelling her *thunder-yells to the blast.
6. Special Combs.: thunder-ax, a popular name in Cornwall for a celt (cf. THUNDERBOLT 3 b); thunder-ball, (a) the electric phenomenon called a fire-ball or globe-lightning; (b) poet. a thunderbolt; (c) the common red poppy (Papaver Rhœas) (dial.); thunder-beat v., trans. ‘to beat with thundering strokes’ (Davies); so thunder-beaten pa. pple.; thunder-beating vbl. sb., beating down by thunder-storms; thunder-bird, (a) a species of Australian shrike or thickhead (Pachycephala gutturalis); (b) a mythical bird thought by some savage tribes to cause thunder; † thunder bounce (humorously bombastic), a loud sudden noise like thunder; thunder-bowl, a metal bowl used in a theater to imitate thunder; thunder-carriage, a name for the chariot of the god Thor in early Scandinavian art; † thunder-clover [OE. þunorclafre], a plant, of doubtful identity; † thunder-dart, a thunderbolt (in art); so † thunder-darter, the wielder of thunderbolts, thunder-darting ppl. a.; thunder-dint (arch.), a thunder-stroke; thunder-dirt, name for a gelatinous fungus, Ileodictyon cibarium, eaten by the natives of New Zealand; thunder-drop, one of the large scattered drops of rain that fall at the beginning of a thunder-shower; thunder-drum, (a) a drum used in a theater to imitate thunder; (b) a fabulous drum represented as the source of thunder; thunder-fish, (a) a silaroid fish of African rivers, Malapterurus electricus, capable of inflicting electric shocks; (b) a European cyprinoid fish, Misgurnus fossilis, which burrows in mud, and comes to the surface before bad weather; also called weather-fish; thunder-fit (nonce-wd.), a shock or sound like thunder; † thunder-flone Obs. [flone, FLANE, arrow], a thunderbolt or thunderstroke; lightning; thunder-flower, a local name for three different plants: (a) the common stitchwort, Stellaria Holostea; (b) the corn poppy, Papaver Rhœas; (c) the white campion, Lychnis vespertina; thunder-fly, a name for the insects of the genus Thrips; thunder-god, the god of thunder; a deity supposed to rule or control the thunder, as Jove in the Roman, or Thor in the Norse mythology; thunder-hammer, a popular name for a celt or other prehistoric implement (cf. thunder-ax); thunder-head, a rounded mass of cumulus cloud seen near the horizon projecting above the general body of cloud, and portending a thunder-storm; hence thunder-headed a., having, or of the nature of, a thunder-head; thunder-house, a small model of a house with electric conductors through which a discharge may be passed to illustrate the destructive effects of a thunderstroke; thunder-master, the master or lord of thunder, i.e., Jove; † thunder-pad (dial.): see quot.; thunder-peal, a peal or resounding clap of thunder; so thunder-pealed pa. pple., uttered loudly as by a thunder-peal; thunder-pick, a local name for a belemnite (cf. THUNDERBOLT 3 a); thunder-plant, a name for the house-leek, Sempervivum tectorum; thunder-plump, chiefly Sc., a heavy and sudden thunder-shower [cf. PLUMP sb.3 3]; thunder-pump = next, (a); thunder-pumper, (a) the American bittern, also called pump-thunder; (b) the American fish Haplodinotus grunniens, also called fresh-water drum, croaker, or sheepshead: in both cases from the sounds which they emit; † thunder-rod, a lightning-rod or lightning-conductor (see LIGHTNING 3 e); † thunder-shot sb. Obs., thunderbolts collectively; lightning; † thunder-shot pa. pple. Obs., struck by ‘thunder’ or lightning; thunder-shower, a shower of rain accompanied by thunder and lightning; thunder-slain pa. pple. (obs. or dial.), struck by ‘thunder’ or lightning; thunder-smite v., trans. to smite as with thunder, to discomfit utterly; † thunder-smith Obs., one who forges thunderbolts: applied to Vulcan, also fig.; thunder-snake, a name for snakes of the genus Ophibolus (also thunder-and-lightning snake), and for the common little worm-snake, Carphiophis amœna, of the U.S.; perh. from their being forced out of their holes by a thunder-shower; † thunder-thump sb. Obs., ? a thunderbolt; † thunder-thump v. Obs., trans. to thump or beat with thundering strokes; † thunder-thumping ppl. a. Obs., (a) striking with thunder (humorously bombastic); (b) sounding like thunder when beaten, as a drum; also fig. of language, ‘full of sound and fury’; thunder-tube = FULGURITE 1, lightning-tube (LIGHTNING 3 e); thunder-worm, ‘an amphisbænoid lizard of Florida, Rhineura floridana: so called as forced out of its burrows by a thunder-shower’ (Cent. Dict., 1891). See also THUNDER AND LIGHTNING, THUNDER-BLAST, etc.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, 82. There are also taken vp in such works certaine little tooles heads of Brasse, which some terme *Thunder-axes.
1865. Tylor, Early Hist. Man., viii. 223. The country folk … still hold that the ‘thunder-axes’ they find, once fell from the sky.
1686. Goad, Celest. Bodies, II. xiv. 351. The *Thunderball … entred the Church.
1819. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., IV. 355. Caves cloven by the thunder-ball.
1584. Hudson, Du Bartas’ Judith, V. 397. So he them *thunderbet wherso he went.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 297. Shores … *Thunder-beaten with the Floods.
1560. Pilkington, Expos. Aggeus (1562), 125. Corn … is subject to many daungers as … *thunder-beating, layde with a raine.
a. 1827. Caley, in Trans. Linn. Soc., XY. 239. This species is called *Thunder-bird by the colonists…. The natives tell me, that, when it begins to thunder, this bird is very noisy.
1871. Tylor, Prim. Cult., I. ix. 328. Among Caribs, Brazilians,… Basutos, we find legends of a flapping or flashing Thunder-bird.
1875. F. Parkman, in N. Amer. Rev., CXX. 40. The thunder-bird is offended,… thunder-storms are occasioned by his anger.
1628. Ford, Lover’s Mel., I. i. When blustering Boreas tosseth up the deep, And thumps a *thunder bounce!
1882. Worsaae, Industr. Arts Denmark, 168. Another type of coarser work … represents Thor … on his *thunder-carriage.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 374. ʓenim … *ðunorclafran blostman [etc.].
c. 1265. Voc. Names Plants, in Wr.-Wülcker, 558/2. Consolida media, þundreclouere.
1569. Spenser, Vis. Bellay, iv., in Theatre Worldlings. *Thunder dartes for Jove.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. i. 272. Th’ immortall, mighty *Thunder-darter.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., II. iii. 11. O thou great thunder-darter of Olympus, forget that thou art Ioue the King of gods.
1601. B. Jonson, Poetaster, V. iii. You shall sweare By *thunder-darting Iove, the King of gods.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, V. 1505. How cappaneus the proude With *thonder dynt was slayn.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 100. He was smyten to deth, wyth leuenyng & wyth thunder-dynt.
1808. Scott, Marm., I. xxiii. The Mount, where Israel heard the law, ’Mid thunder-dint, and flashing levin.
1833. R. Turner, in Gd. Words, Sept., 590/1. The gelatinous [fungus] which the New Zealand natives know as *‘thunder-dirt.’
1832. Tennyson, Dream Fair Wom., 122. As *thunder-drops fall on a sleeping sea.
1807–8. W. Irving, Salmag. (1824), 270. The great *thunder-drum has been new braced.
1876. Blackie, Songs Relig. & Life, 175. When Jove beats loud his thunder-drum.
1883. Ogilvie (Annandale), *Thunder-fish, a species of fish … found in the Nile, which, like the torpedo, can give an electric shock…. The Malapterurus electricus of naturalists.
1886. Nature, 25 March, 497/2. Additions to the Zool. Soc. Gardens … include … a Thunder Fish (Misgurnus fossilis) from Austria.
1798. Coleridge, Anc. Mar., I. xvii. The ice did split with a *thunder-fit.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 186. Crist seiþ … þat he saiȝ Saþanas fallinge fro hevene, as þe *þunder floon falliþ fro þe cloude.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xii. 324. So bright as it shone, I wold haue trowed, veraly, it had bene thoner flone.
1853. G. Johnston, Bot. E. Bord., 30. About Wooler it [the corn-poppy] was wont to be called *Thunder-flower or Lightnings, and children were afraid to pluck the flower, for if … the petals fell off … the gatherer became more liable to be struck with lightning.
1886. Britten & Holland, Eng. Plant-n., Thunder-flower. (1) Stellaria Holostea.… (2) Papaver Rhœas.—E. Bord. Bot. E. Bord…. (3) Lychnis vespertina.—W. Cumb.
1854. A. Adams, etc., Man. Nat. Hist., 213. The tiny *Thunder-Flies which we often find during the summer in countless multitudes.
1840. Carlyle, Heroes, i. (1872), 33. Thor the *Thundergod changed into Jack the Giant-killer.
1907. Q. Rev., July, 193. Kari, the thunder-god, who kills the wicked by lightning.
1861. L. L. Noble, Icebergs, 138. An iceberg rises … after the figure of a *thunderhead.
1879. J. Burroughs, Locusts & W. Honey, 94. A growing storm or thunder-head in the horizon.
1773. Henley, in Phil. Trans., LXIV. 135. The apparatus known, to electricians, by the name of the *thunder-house.
1887. Gumming, Electricity treated Exper., 147. An instructive experiment is that known as the Thunder House.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., V. iv. 30. No more thou *Thunder-Master shew thy spight on Mortall Flies.
1700. Phil. Trans., XXII. 453. These animals [tadpoles] are known by the vulgar sort of people by the name of *Thunder-pads.
1804. J. Grahame, Sabbath (1808), 15. *Thunder-peals compelled the men of blood To couch within their dens.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xi. 86. The breaking up of the weather was announced by a thunder-peal.
1878. Browning, La Saisiaz, 150. Truth is truth in each degree—*Thunder-pealed by God to Nature, whispered by my soul to me.
1801. Med. Jrnl., XXI. 85. A stone of the calcareous species,… called by the common people *thunder-pick.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1148. *Thunder plant, Sempervivum tectorum.
1821. Galt, Annals Parish, i. 22. It came on such a *thunder-plump, that there was not a single soul stayed in the kirk-yard to hear him.
1883. Mrs. Bishop, in Leisure Hour, 20/2. A heavy shower, like a ‘thunder-plump,’ takes up a part of the afternoon.
1888. Goode, Amer. Fishes, 142. The name … *‘Thunder-pumper,’ also used for the bittern,… is heard along the Mississippi River.
1891. E. Roper, By Track & Trail, xxi. 312. The gurgle and the wheeze and the final explosion of a ‘thunder-pumper’ [bittern].
1824. Mechanic’s Mag., No. 57. 10. A good kitchen fire has more efficacy in preventing a house from being struck than a whole magazine of *thunder-rods.
1605. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. I. Vocation, 1304. Heav’n flings down nought but flashing *Thundershot.
1626. T. H[awkins], Caussin’s Holy Crt., 130. Some haue beene … *thunder-shot in a bath.
1676. E. Stillingfl., Def. Idolatry, I. ii. 273. The conceit had need be good, it is so long in delivering; and at last it comes like a *thunder-showre, full of sulphur and darkness, with a terrible crack.
1766. Wesley, Jrnl., 13 July. We were met … by a furious thunder-shower.
c. 1440. York Myst., xi. 320. So are they threst and *thondour slayne.
1732. P. Walker, Cargill, in Biog. Presbyt. (1827), II. 24. Frighted as if they were blasted or thunder-slain.
1875. Browning, Aristoph. Apol., 1968. Hellas *thundersmote The Persian.
1592. G. Harvey, Four Lett., iii. 37. That terrible *Thundersmith of termes. Ibid. (1593), Pierce’s Super., 190. Vulcan … the … thundersmith of … Iupiter.
1800. Lamb, Lett. to Manning, 16 Oct. Whip-snakes, *thunder-snakes, pig-nose-snakes.
1863. T. W. Higginson, Army Life (1870), 140. A thunder-snake, eight feet long.
1563. B. Googe, Eglogs, iv. (Arb.), 43. O thou yat throwest the *thunder thumps From Heauens hye, to Hell.
1637. Bastwick, Litany, I. 11. I will soe *thunderthump Your Pautry Politans.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia (1598), 571. Now the *thunderthumping Ioue transfund his dotes into your excellent formositie.
1623. Lisle, Ælfric on O. & N. Test., Ded. xii. The shriking trump, and thunder-thumping drum.
1679. V. Alsop, Mel. Inquirend., II. iii. 250. They cannot cloath their thoughts in thunder-thumping Phraseology.
