from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Thunderbolt \Thun"der*bolt`\, n.
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.
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2. Something resembling lightning in suddenness and
effectiveness.
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The Scipios' worth, those thunderbolts of war.
--Dryden.
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3. Vehement threatening or censure; especially,
ecclesiastical denunciation; fulmination.
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He severely threatens such with the thunderbolt of
excommunication. --Hakewill.
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4. (Paleon.) A belemnite, or thunderstone.
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{Thunderbolt beetle} (Zool.), 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.
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