lightning bug

2 definitions found

lightning bug - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Lightning \Light"ning\ (l[imac]t"n[i^]ng), n. [For lightening,
     fr. lighten to flash.]
     1. A discharge of atmospheric electricity, accompanied by a
        vivid flash of light, commonly from one cloud to another,
        sometimes from a cloud to the earth. The sound produced by
        the electricity in passing rapidly through the atmosphere
        constitutes thunder.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The act of making bright, or the state of being made
        bright; enlightenment; brightening, as of the mental
        powers. [R.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Ball lightning, a rare form of lightning sometimes seen as
        a globe of fire moving from the clouds to the earth.
  
     Chain lightning, lightning in angular, zigzag, or forked
        flashes.
  
     Heat lightning, more or less vivid and extensive flashes of
        electric light, without thunder, seen near the horizon,
        esp. at the close of a hot day.
  
     Lightning arrester (Telegraphy), a device, at the place
        where a wire enters a building, for preventing injury by
        lightning to an operator or instrument. It consists of a
        short circuit to the ground interrupted by a thin
        nonconductor over which lightning jumps. Called also
        lightning discharger.
  
     Lightning bug (Zool.), a luminous beetle. See Firefly.
  
     Lightning conductor, a lightning rod.
  
     Lightning glance, a quick, penetrating glance of a
        brilliant eye.
  
     Lightning rod, a metallic rod set up on a building, or on
        the mast of a vessel, and connected with the earth or
        water below, for the purpose of protecting the building or
        vessel from lightning.
  
     Sheet lightning, a diffused glow of electric light flashing
        out from the clouds, and illumining their outlines. The
        appearance is sometimes due to the reflection of light
        from distant flashes of lightning by the nearer clouds.
        [1913 Webster]

lightning bug - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  lightning bug
      n 1: nocturnal beetle common in warm regions having luminescent
           abdominal organs [syn: firefly, lightning bug]