lightning

«lightning» in Mova's school dictionary: The bright flash of light in the sky during a storm, made… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (lightning — uncountable; a flash/bolt of lightning)

meaning for a pupil

1) The bright flash of light in the sky during a storm, made by a huge spark of electricity between clouds or between a cloud and the ground. tree →

2) Very fast: «as quick as lightning», «lightning speed». tree →

sense in the lessons

In science: lightning is static electricity; it heats the air so fast that the air bangs — that sound is thunder; light travels faster than sound, so you see lightning before you hear thunder. Count seconds between flash and bang and divide by 3 for about kilometres away (by 5 for miles). In safety: when thunder roars, go indoors; avoid tall trees, open fields, water and metal; lightning can strike the same place twice. Phrases: a flash of lightning, a bolt of lightning, struck by lightning, thunder and lightning, lightning fast.

examples

• We saw lightning over the hills. tree →
• Lightning comes before thunder because light is faster than sound. tree →
• The tree was struck by lightning. tree →
• Go inside when you hear thunder. tree →
• Don't stand under a tall tree during lightning. tree →
• She ran as quick as lightning. tree →
• I counted 6 seconds after the flash, so the storm was about 2 km away. tree →
• Thunder and lightning scared the dog. tree →
• Gleams of lightning shot forth from them. tree →

note

No e: «lightning», not «lightening» (lightening means making lighter). Uncountable: «a flash of lightning», not «a lightning». Myth: lightning never strikes twice — false; tall buildings are struck many times. In maths: seconds ÷ 3 ≈ kilometres away; seconds ÷ 5 ≈ miles.

In the corpora

• Lightning and glowing signs contain plasma, a fourth state: gas so hot or charged that its atoms lose electrons.
• Nature makes glass too, when lightning strikes sand or lava cools very fast.
• Lightning striking sand can melt it into glass tubes called fulgurites; volcanoes make a natural black glass called obsidian.
• Lightning is a giant electric spark; thunder is the sound of the air around it heated so fast that it bursts outward.
• Tall, dark, towering thunderclouds can bring lightning, heavy rain, hail and strong wind.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «lightning» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.