storm
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /stɔːm/
ipa: /stɔɹm/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)m
Forms: form: storms
Etymology: From Middle English storm (“disturbed state of the atmosphere; heavy precipitation; battle, conflict; attack”) [and other forms], from Old English storm (“tempest, storm; attack; storm of arrows; disquiet, disturbance, tumult, uproar; onrush, rush”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *sturm (“storm”), from Proto-Germanic *sturmaz (“storm”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)twerH- (“to agitate, stir up; to propel; to urge on”). Related to stir.
Cognates
* Danish storm (“storm”)
* Dutch storm (“storm”)
* German Sturm (“storm”)
* Icelandic stormur (“storm”)
* Low German storm (“storm”)
* Norwegian Bokmål storm (“storm”)
* Norwegian Nynorsk storm (“storm”)
* Scots storm (“storm”)
* Swedish storm (“storm”)
* West Frisian stoarm (“storm”)
Senses: examples: text: Near-synonyms: cyclone (broad sense), tempest
text: The boat was torn to pieces in the storm, and nobody survived.
text: Thou toyl'ſt in perrill, and the vvindie ſtorme, / Doth topſide-turuey toſſe thee as thou floteſt.
ref: 1594, Robert Garnier, translated by Thomas Kid [i.e., Thomas Kyd], Pompey the Great, His Faire Corneliaes Tragedie: […], London: […] [James Roberts] for Nicholas Ling, published 1595, →OCLC, act I, signature A2, verso:
text: But ſeeing that there the murdring Enemie, / Peſle-meſle, purſued them like a ſtorme of hayle, / They gan retyre vvhere Iuba vvas encampt; […]
ref: 1594, Robert Garnier, translated by Thomas Kid [i.e., Thomas Kyd], Pompey the Great, His Faire Corneliaes Tragedie: […], London: […] [James Roberts] for Nicholas Ling, published 1595, →OCLC, act V, signature K3, verso:
text: [W]e heare this fearefull tempeſt ſing, / Yet ſeeke no ſhelter to auoid the ſtorme: / We ſee the vvind ſit ſore vpon our ſailes.
ref: 1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
text: And vvhat at firſt vvas call'd a guſt, the ſame / Hath novv a ſtormes, anon a tempeſts name.
ref: 1597, J[ohn] Donne, “The Storme. To Mr Christopher Brooke.”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, →OCLC, page 57:
text: [W]hy vvhat's the matter? / That you haue ſuch a Februarie face, / So full of froſt, of ſtorme, and clovvdineſſe.
ref: 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv], page 121, column 1:
text: Here's neither buſh, nor ſhrub to beare off any vveather at all: and another Storme brevving, I heare it ſing ith' vvinde: yond ſame blacke cloud, yond huge one, lookes like a foule bumbard that vvould ſhed his licquor: […]
ref: 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 9, column 1:
text: [D]uring this late tuffon, lightning vvas ſeen to fall and hang like fire, ſometimes to skip to and fro about the Yards and Tackling of our Ships. […] [S]ome call Hermes fire; Saint Elmo others; […] vvithall believing, that vvhen tvvo are ſeen, they foretel Halcyon vveather and ſafety; if one, it imports danger; but three threaten ſtorms and ſhipvvrack. Sed non ego credulus illis [But I am not credulous of them], vvell-knovving that theſe Meteors are no other than natural Exhalations.
ref: 1677, Tho[mas] Herbert, Some Yeares Travels into Divers Parts of Africa, and Asia the Great. […], 4th edition, London: […] R. Everingham, for R. Scot, T. Basset, J[ohn] Wright, and R. Chiswell, →OCLC, page 11:
text: When storm is on the heights, and right and left / Suck'd from the dark heart of the long hills roll / The torrents, dash'd to the vale: and yet her will / Bred will in me to overcome it or fall.
ref: 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part V”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 111:
text: O thou that after toil and storm / Mayst seem to have reach'd a purer air, / Whose faith has centre everywhere, / Nor cares to fix itself to form, […]
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXXIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 52:
text: Phoenix and Lubbock are both caught in severe drought, and it is going to get much worse. We may see many such [dust] storms in the decades ahead, along with species extinctions, radical disturbance of ecosystems, and intensified social conflict over land and water. Welcome to the Anthropocene, the epoch when humans have become a major geological and climatic force.
ref: 2012 January, Donald Worster, “A Drier and Hotter Future”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, New Haven, Conn.: Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 Jan 2012, page 70:
glosses: Any disturbed state of the atmosphere causing destructive or unpleasant weather, especially one affecting the earth's surface involving strong winds (leading to high waves at sea) and usually lightning, thunder, and precipitation.
glosses: Any disturbed state of the atmosphere causing destructive or unpleasant weather, especially one affecting the earth's surface involving strong winds (leading to high waves at sea) and usually lightning, thunder, and precipitation.
A heavy fall of precipitation (hail, rain, or snow) or bout of lightning and thunder without strong winds; a hail storm, rainstorm, snowstorm, or thunderstorm.
glosses: Any disturbed state of the atmosphere causing destructive or unpleasant weather, especially one affecting the earth's surface involving strong winds (leading to high waves at sea) and usually lightning, thunder, and precipitation.
Synonym of cyclone (“a weather phenomenon consisting of a system of winds rotating around a centre of low atmospheric pressure”).
synonyms: word: cyclone
extra: a weather phenomenon consisting of a system of winds rotating around a centre of low atmospheric pressure
glosses: Any disturbed state of the atmosphere causing destructive or unpleasant weather, especially one affecting the earth's surface involving strong winds (leading to high waves at sea) and usually lightning, thunder, and precipitation.
A period of frosty and/or snowy weather.
topics: climatology
meteorology
natural-sciences
glosses: Any disturbed state of the atmosphere causing destructive or unpleasant weather, especially one affecting the earth's surface involving strong winds (leading to high waves at sea) and usually lightning, thunder, and precipitation.
A disturbed state of the atmosphere between a severe or strong gale and a hurricane on the modern Beaufort scale, with a wind speed of between 89 and 102 kilometres per hour (55–63 miles per hour; 10 on the scale, known as a "storm" or whole gale), or of between 103 and 117 kilometres per hour (64–72 miles per hour; 11 on the scale, known as a "violent storm").
examples: text: a storm of bullets
text: Adrastus firſt aduanſt his creſt aloft, / And boldly gan a ſtrong ſcalado reare, / And through the falling ſtorme did vpward clime / Of ſtones, dartes, arrovves, fire, pitch and lime: […]
ref: 1600, [Torquato Tasso], “The Eleuenth Booke of Godfrey of Bulloigne”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC, stanza 34, page 202:
text: [F]or this day will pour down, / If I conjecture aught, no drizling ſhowr, / But ratling ſtorm of Arrows barbd with fire.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 544–546:
text: Then rose / His mace, and with a storm of blows / The mortal and the demon close.
ref: 1817, [Walter Scott], “Canto Sixth”, in Harold the Dauntless; […], Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC, stanza XV, page 194:
text: I will not cease to grasp the hope I hold / Of saintdom, and to clamour, mourn and sob, / Battering the gates of heaven with storms of prayer, / Have mercy, Lord, and take away my sin.
ref: 1833 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “St. Simeon Stylites”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 53:
text: "Sorry about the bullet storm," Corbin said as they approached her living quarters. "I'm a bit of a bet-hedger these days."
ref: 2023 September 22, HarryBlank, “Off Track”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 25 May 2024:
glosses: A heavy expulsion or fall of things (as blows, objects which are thrown, etc.).
examples: text: The proposed reforms have led to a political storm.
text: Savv you no more? Mark'd you not hovv hir ſiſter / Began to ſcold, and raiſe vp ſuch a ſtorme, / That moral eares might hardly indure the din.
ref: c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 211, column 2:
text: VVhiles I in Ireland nouriſh a mightie Band, / I vvill ſtirre vp in England ſome black Storme, / Shall blovve then thouſand Soules to Heauen, or Hell: […]
ref: 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 133, column 1:
text: [When] private men begin once to presume to give law to themselves, and to right their own wrongs, no man can foresee the dangers and inconveniences that may arise and multiply thereupon. It may cause sudden storms in Court, to the disturbance of his Majesty, and unsafety of his person.
ref: 1613, Francis Bacon, “A.D. 1613, July–December. Ætat. 53. The Charge of Sir Francis Bacon, Knight, His Majesty’s Attorney-General, Touching Duels; […].”, in James Spedding, editor, The Works of Francis Bacon, […]: The Letters and the Life of Francis Bacon […], volume IV, London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, published 1858, →OCLC, page 400:
text: Bold may I vvax, exceeding bold / My high Commiſſion to perform, / Nor ſhrink thy harſheſt Truths t' unfold, / But more than meet the gathering Storm.
ref: 1739, John Wesley, Charles Wesley, “Acts iv. 29.”, in Hymns and Sacred Poems, London: […] William Strahan; and sold by James Hutton, […]; and at Mr. Bray’s, […], →OCLC, part II, stanza VI, page 203:
text: But they were all speedily thrown into the shade by two younger Whigs [Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax and John Somers, 1st Baron Somers], who, on this great day, took their seats for the first time, who soon rose to the highest honors of the state, who weathered together the fiercest storms of faction, […]
ref: 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter X, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 623:
text: Pa told me, only yesterday morning, (and dreadfully unhappy he is) that he couldn't weather the storm. […] I should like to make out how Pa is to weather the storm. I declare if I was Pa, I'd run away!
ref: 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “Deportment”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC, page 131:
synonyms: tempest
tumult
glosses: A violent agitation of human society; a domestic, civil, or political commotion.
examples: text: a storm of protest
text: [W]as there euer any thing proiected, that fauoured any vvay of nevvneſſe or renevving, but the ſame endured many a ſtorme of gaine-ſaying, or oppoſition?
ref: 1611, [Miles Smith], “The Translators to the Reader”, in The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC:
text: With storms of whistlings then his flock he drave / Up to the mountains; […]
ref: 1614–1615, Homer, “The Ninth Book of Homer’s Odysseys”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volume I, London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, →OCLC, page 211, lines 43–44:
text: The Proſe is Fuſtian, and the Numbers lame. All Noiſe, and empty Pomp, a ſtorm of vvords, / Lab'ring vvith ſound, that little Sence affords.
ref: 1693, Aulus Persius Flaccus, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus.] The First Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 6:
text: [H]ow much more they would have been alarmed had they heard him actually throwing out such a storm of eloquence?
ref: 1712 June 28 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “TUESDAY, June 17, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 407; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 13:
text: Theſe, and a thouſand mixt emotions more, / From ever-changing vievvs of good and ill, / Form'd infinitely various, vex the mind / VVith endleſs ſtorm: […]
ref: a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC, page 13, lines 296–299:
text: The ſtrings are ſvvept vvith ſuch a povv'r, ſo loud, / The ſtorm of muſic ſhakes th' aſtoniſh'd crovvd.
ref: 1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Table Talk”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 26:
text: [Y]et a moment, and once more / The trumpet, and again: at which the storm / Of galloping hoofs bare on the ridge of spears / And riders front to front, until they closed / In the middle with the crash of shivering points, / And thunder.
ref: 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part V”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 117:
text: He betrayed, however, no sign of fear or of shame, and faced the storm of invective which burst upon him for bar, bench, and witness box, with the insolence of despair.
ref: 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter IV, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 484:
text: Sir Aylmer reddening from the storm within, / Then broke all bonds of courtesy, […]
ref: 1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 68:
text: When his playfellows ran after the dogs in their fanatic thirst, he ran too, but with a storm of other feelings.
ref: 1894 January–July, Hall Caine, chapter IV, in The Manxman, London: William Heinemann, published 3 August 1894 (1 September 1894 printing), →OCLC, part I (Boys Together), page 17:
glosses: A violent commotion or outbreak of sounds, speech, thoughts, etc.; also, an outpouring of emotion.
examples: text: asthmatic storm    cytokine storm
text: He ſvvet and ſvvet againe vvith ſuch exceſſiue ſvvoonings, as not only himſelfe, but likevviſe all the beholders, did verily deeme, that his life vvas ending. This ſtorme and miſhappe endured about ſome tvvo hovvres, after vvhich hee remayned not cured as his Maſter, but ſo vveary and indiſpoſed, as hee vvas not able to ſtand.
ref: 1612, [Miguel de Cervantes], “Wherein are Rehearsed the Innumerable Misfortunes which Don-Quixote and His Good Squire Sancho Suffered in the Inne, which He to His Harme Thought to be a Castle”, in Thomas Shelton, transl., The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha. […], London: […] William Stansby, for Ed[ward] Blount and W. Barret, →OCLC, part 3, page 136:
topics: medicine
pathology
sciences
glosses: Chiefly with a qualifying word: a violent attack of diease, pain, physiological reactions, symptoms, etc.; a paroxysm.
glosses: Ellipsis of storm window (“a second window (originally detachable) attached on the exterior side of a window in climates with harsh winters, to add an insulating layer of still air between the outside and inside”).
Synonyms: word: procelle
word: storm
Hyponyms: word: barnstorm
word: blamestorm
word: blatherstorm
word: boot storm
word: brainstorm
word: broadcast storm
word: bug storm
word: buzzstorm
word: crapstorm
word: cyclonic storm
word: cytokine storm
word: duststorm
word: earthquake storm
word: earthstorm
word: electrical storm
word: electromagnetic storm
word: email storm
word: firestorm
word: geomagnetic storm
word: hail storm
word: heat storm
word: hundred-year storm
word: ice storm
word: interrupt storm
word: ion storm
word: leafstorm
word: magnetic storm
word: megastorm
word: one-hundred-year storm
word: pawn storm
word: perfect storm
word: quiet storm
word: rainstorm
word: reply all storms
word: sandstorm
word: seastorm
word: shitstorm
word: silver storm
word: snowstorm
word: solar storm
word: substorm
word: superstorm
word: thunderstorm
word: tropical storm
word: tweetstorm
word: Twitterstorm
word: violent storm
word: windstorm
word: winter storm
word: tornado
word: twister
word: hurricane
word: cyclone
word: typhoon
word: whirlwind
word: hailstorm
word: tempest
word: waterspout
word: blizzard
Coordinate terms: topics: meteorology
climatology
natural-sciences
word: breeze
topics: meteorology
climatology
natural-sciences
word: gale
topics: meteorology
climatology
natural-sciences
word: hurricane
Meronyms: word: wind
word: rain
word: hail
word: snow
word: lightning
word: thunder
Derived terms: any port in a storm
ark storm
bestorm
brain storm
brain-storm
calm before the storm
cook up a storm
Desert Storm syndrome
dust storm
eye of the storm
fart in a windstorm
fart in a wind storm
fire storm
fish storm
Guadalupe storm petrel
leaf-storm
leaf storm
lightning storm
line storm
lull before the storm
mega-storm
midstorm
Pincoya storm petrel
poststorm
prestorm
purple storm snail
ride out the storm
sand storm
storm and stress
storm beach
storm-bird
stormbound
storm card
storm cats and dogs
storm cellar
storm center
storm chaser
stormcloud
storm cloud
storm-cloud
stormcock
storm cone
storm door
storm drain
storm drum
stormfinch
stormflow
stormfront
stormful
stormglass
storm glass
storm in a glass of water
storm in a tea-kettle
storm in a teapot
storm jib
Storm Lake
storm lantern
stormless
stormlessness
stormlike
storm match
storm moon
storm oil
stormpath
storm-petrel
storm petrel
stormproof
storm-racked
storm-relative helicity
storm-ridden
storm room
storm sail
storm sewer
storm stay
storm-stayed
storm surge
storm-swept
storm tide
stormtossed
stormtrack
storm troop
stormtrooper
storm-trooper
storm trooper
storm-voice
stormwater
stormwind
storm window
stormworthy
storm-wracked
stormy
take by storm
thyroid storm
tropical-storm
t-storm
up a storm
weather the storm
whip up a storm
Wilson's storm petrel
wind storm
Related terms: word: blizzard
word: hydrometeor