[f. THUNDER v. + -ING1.] The action of the verb THUNDER.
1. lit. (see THUNDER v. 1); also in pl.: THUNDER sb. 1, 1 c (now rare or arch.).
a. 1100. O. E. Chron., an. 1086 [miswr. 1085]. Swa stor þunring & læʓt wes, swa þæt hit acwealde maniʓe men.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 7763. Tempestes þer come Þondringe & liȝtinge ek þat slou men ilome.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XI. i. (1495), 381. Ayre strongly meuyd makyth wyndes lyghtnynge and thondrynge drawe togyder.
1526. Tindale, Rev. xix. 6. As the voyce off many waters, and as the voyce off stronge thondrynges [so 1539 (Great), 1560 (Genev.), 1611; 1881 R. V. thunders].
1555. Eden, Decades, 90. Soo many thunderinges, lyghtnynge, and tempestes wherwith they are soo often troubeled.
1727. [Dorrington], Philip Quarll (1816), 80. Great thundering and lightning.
1884. Tait, Mind in Matter (1892), 200. At the bidding of Moses, thunderings, lightnings, and hail, by divine command, exhibited [etc.].
2. transf. Loud resounding noise (see THUNDER v. 2): = THUNDER sb. 2.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 414 b. Than … was the city [Metz] … beaten with shot,… the noise and Thondering thereof was hard … iiii Dutche miles beyond the Rhine.
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., XI. iii. Raise my soft strain to high thundering.
1822. Byron, Werner, V. i. 113. The thundering Of far artillery.
1866. Dickens, Lett. (1880), II. 254. The thundering of applause … was quite staggering.
b. Infliction of heavy and resounding strokes.
1592. Wyrley, Armorie, Ld. Chandos, i. Whom sound he hits with staggring steps doth reel, They knew it sure that his sad thundring feel.
3. fig. Vehement threatening, invective, or the like (see THUNDER v. 3): = THUNDER sb. 3.
1564. Knox, Bk. Com. Order (1840), 158. Lawful excommunication (for the thunderings of that Roman antichrist are but vanity and wind).
1597. J. Payne, Royal Exch., 42. What thundringe soever the scripture sownds agaynst yt.
1607. Hieron, Wks., I. 183. The thundring out of the threatnings and terror of the law.
1889. E. L. Wakeman, in Morn. Jrnl.-Courier (New Haven, CT), 13 July, 1/6. The wake which most powerful priest or prelate cannot prevent by direst sacerdotal thunderings.
4. attrib. and Comb., as thundering-machine, an apparatus for imitating thunder in a theater.
1826. Museum Crit., II. 214. [The Greeks] had … a βροντεῖον, or artificial thundering machine, consisting of a vessel filled with stones, which was rolled along a sheet of copper.
