thunder
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈθʌndə/
enpr: thŭn′dər
ipa: /ˈθʌndɚ/
rhymes: -ʌndə(ɹ)
Forms: form: thunders
Etymology: From Middle English thunder, thonder, thundre, thonre, thunnere, þunre, from Old English þunor (“thunder”), from Proto-West Germanic *þunr, from Proto-Germanic *þunraz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ten-, *(s)tenh₂- (“to thunder”).
Compare astound, astonish, stun. Germanic cognates include West Frisian tonger, Dutch donder, German Donner, Old Norse Þórr (English Thor), Danish torden, Norwegian Nynorsk tore. Other cognates include Persian تندر (tondar), Latin tonō, detonō, Ancient Greek στένω (sténō), στενάζω (stenázō), στόνος (stónos), Στέντωρ (Sténtōr), Irish torann, Welsh taran, Gaulish Taranis. Doublet of donner, Thunor, and Thor.
Senses: examples: text: Thunder is preceded by lightning.
text: With each clap of thunder echoing from one high building to another the noise was terrific.
ref: 1953 July, Allen Rowley, “First Impressions of American Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 493:
glosses: The loud rumbling, cracking, or crashing sound caused by expansion of rapidly heated air around a lightning bolt.
examples: text: Off in the distance, he heard the thunder of hoofbeats, signalling a stampede.
glosses: A deep, rumbling noise resembling thunder.
examples: text: The thunders of the Vatican could no longer strike into the heart of princes.
ref: 1847, William H. Prescott, A History of the Conquest of Peru:
glosses: An alarming or startling threat or denunciation.
examples: text: The revenging gods / 'Gainst parricides did all their thunders bend.
ref: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
glosses: The discharge of electricity; a thunderbolt.
examples: text: Adam's fall and Vico's thunder are embodied in a word of a hundred letters, the first of ten thunders in the Wake.
ref: 1996, William York Tindall, A Reader's Guide to Finnegans Wake, page 31:
topics: literature
media
publishing
glosses: Synonym of thunder word.
synonyms: word: thunder word
Derived terms: black as thunder
black thunder
blood and thunder
by thunder
castle thunder
Chad Thundercock
face like thunder
heat thunder
outthunder
rethunder
steal someone's thunder
thunder and lightning
thunderation
thunder beast
thunderbird
thunderblast
thunderbolt
thunderboomer
thunderbox
thunderbug
thunderburst
thunderclap
thundercloud
thunder cloud
thundercrack
thunder cross
thundercunt
Thunderdome
thunder-drum
thunderdunk
thunder egg
thunderegg
thunder fever
thunder fire
thunderfish
thunderflash
thunderful
thunder god
thunder god vine
thundergust
thunderhead
thunderless
thunderlight
thunderlike
thunder lizard
thunder moon
thunder mug
thundermug
thunderous
thunderpeal
thunder-plant
thunder-plump
thunder pot
thunderproof
thunder rod
thunder run
thunder sheet
thundershock
thundershower
thunder sleet
thunder snake
thundersnow
thundersome
thundersquall
thunder stick
thunderstick
thunder-stick
thunderstone
thunderstorm
thunderstricken
thunderstrike
thunderstruck
thunder tea rice
thunder-thighed
thunder thighs
thunder tube
thunder-wheel
thunderworm
thundery
upthunder
Related terms: lightning