thunder

Full of rage or hostility, likened to the black clouds that accompany thunderstorms. When I looked up, his face was as black as thunder, and I knew that I was in trouble.

A speaker who attracts listeners by using an impassioned, often aggressive, delivery. The phrase originated in the Bible. I can't listen to that son of thunder bluster about his idiotic worldview anymore. A son of thunder has everyone mesmerized in the town square right now.

a chance of precipitation. (Used only in weather forecasting. There is no "risk" of hazard or injury involved.) And for tomorrow, there is a slight risk of showers in the morning. There is a 50 percent risk of rain tonight.

Fig. to lessen someone's force or authority. What do you mean by coming in here and stealing my thunder? I'm in charge here! someone stole my thunder by leaking my announcement to the press.

Fig. to move across something, making a rumbling sound. The jets thundered across the sky, heading for their home base. As the race car thundered across the track, people strained to get a better view.

Fig. to move past someone or something, rumbling. As the traffic thundered past, I wondered why there was so much of it. The train thundered past the sleeping town.

Fig. to respond with words spoken in a voice like thunder. He thundered the words out so everyone could hear them. He thundered out the words.

a speech or performance that is loud and full of emotion, especially anger We sat through 2 hours of blood and thunder and came out feeling exhausted.

to do something that takes attention away from what someone else has done I kept quiet about my pregnancy because Cathy was getting married, and I didn't want to steal her thunder.

to have a very angry expression I don't know what had happened but he had a face like thunder. She didn't say anything but she looked like thunder.

Use or appropriate another's idea, especially to one's advantage, as in It was Harold's idea but they stole his thunder and turned it into a massive advertising campaign without giving him credit . This idiom comes from an actual incident in which playwright and critic John Dennis (1657-1734) devised a "thunder machine" (by rattling a sheet of tin backstage) for his play, Appius and Virginia (1709), and a few days later discovered the same device being used in a performance of Macbeth, whereupon he declared, "They steal my thunder."

see under steal someone's thunder.

To use, appropriate, or preempt the use of another's idea, especially to one's own advantage and without consent by the originator.