Lightning

Defining Lightning because that is how I am hoping that some (if not all) of these entries will affect everyone who is reading. But also this definition is placed here in the beginning of this blog's entries to demonstrate just how many different ways one can define, look at, or view just one single word (and that being in only one language).

1. Abrupt electric discharge from cloud to cloud or from cloud to earth accompanied by the emission of light; the flash of light that accompanies an electric discharge in the atmosphere (or something resembling such a flash); can scintillate for a second or more wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

2. Lightning is a powerful natural electrostatic discharge produced during a thunderstorm. Lightning's abrupt electric discharge is accompanied by the emission of light. The electricity passing through the discharge channels rapidly heats and expands the air, producing lightning's characteristic thunder sound. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning

3. A visible electrical discharge produced by a thunderstorm. The discharge may occur within or between clouds, between the cloud and air, between a cloud and the ground or between the ground and a cloud.
www.geog.ubc.ca/courses/g102/Resources/G102Glossary.html

4. The visible discharge of electricity associated with a thunderstorm. www.teachervision.fen.com/page/3833.html

5. Discharge of static electricity in the atmosphere, usually between the ground and a storm cloud.www.bbc.co.uk/weather/weatherwise/glossary/l.shtml

6. Any and all of the various forms of visible electrical discharge caused by thunderstorms. Severe thunderstorms usually have very frequent and sometimes nearly continuous lightning. However, some non-severe thunderstorms also contain frequent and vivid electrical displays, while some severe storms are accompanied by little lightning.www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/html/spotglos.shtml

7. Usually, any and all of the assorted forms of observable electrical release created by thunderstorms. www.gozoweather.com/glossary.shtml

8. An enormous discharge of electricity in the atmosphere that results when a thunderstorm cloud becomes polarized.wilstar.com/skywatch_glossary.htm

9. Various forms of lightning occurring day or night. australiasevereweather.com/photography/define2.htm

10. The large electric sparks produced in and around thunderclouds. www.advancedforecasting.com/weathereducation/weatherglossary.html

11. Visible electrical discharge in the atmosphere, as in: Flashes of lightning illuminated the night sky.www.business-words.com/dictionary/L.html

12. Includes fire caused directly or indirectly by lightning. nfdp.ccfm.org/compendium/fires/terminology_e.php

13. A flash of light produced by an electrical discharge in response to the buildup of an electrical potential between cloud and Earth’s surface, or between different portions of the same cloud. www.ametsoc.org/amsedu/WES/glossary.html

14. A sudden visible flash of energy and light caused by electrical discharges during a thunderstorm. weathereye.kgan.com/cadet/disaster/glossary.html

15. A visible electrical discharge produced by thunderstorms. The majority of lightning strikes occur within a cloud... while only about 20% or so occur between the cloud and the ground. Lightning heats the surrounding air close to 54,000 F. This rapid and extreme heating causes the air to expand explosively, thus inititating a shock wave that becomes a booming sound wave... or thunder (a sonic boom)... that travels outward in all directions. ...www.krdotv.com/WeatherDef.asp

16. Teutonic mythology attributes lightning to the god Thor. Though lightning is most often associated with Thor's hammer, Mjollnir, several myths describe the sparks of light that flash across the sky as originating from fragments of whetstone lodged in Thor's head. After the rise of a new world, natural phenomena like lightning and thunder were seen as a good omen by many in Teutonic cultures. ...alandpeters.tripod.com/knightstemplarera1188to1312/id19.html

17. Natural electricity produced in thunderstorm clouds and appearing as a bright flash or streak of light in the sky.worksheets.teach-nology.com/science/force/quiz/

18. An electrical discharge that results from the buildup of positive and negative charges within a thunderstorm. When the buildup becomes strong enough, lightning appears as a "bolt." This flash of light usually occurs within or between, the clouds and the ground. When a lightning bolt occurs, the air surrounding its channel is instantaneously heated to as much as 50,000° F, a temperature that is five times that of the sun. www.sumter-electric.com/storms/termstoknow.htm

19. A frozen form of precipitation that falls as ice crystals formed into flakes. www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/science/weather/quiz/

20. Atatic electricity produced by a build-up of electrical charge in a thunderstorm. www.thunderchaser.com/weatherwords.html

adjective: Moving or occurring with remarkable speed or suddenness.