01 n. 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.
-
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.
A belemnite, or thunderstone.(Paleon.)
Phrases & compounds
Thunderbolt beetle —
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.