| 释义 |
ˈthunder-clap
[f. thunder n. + clap n.1]
a. A clap or loud crash of thunder; formerly also, a thunderstroke. Often allusively used: cf. c.
c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋100 The Eyr..shal be ful of thonder clappes and lightnynges. c1489Caxton Blanchardyn liv. 218 Since it hath pleased..God to terrifie with his thunderclaps our feeble hearts. 1598Hakluyt Voy. I. 60 He was afterward slaine by a thunderclap. 1686tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 45 This Answer was like a Thunderclap. 1758Borlase Nat. Hist. Cornw. 15 The Thunder-claps were within a few minutes of one another. 1861Sala Dutch Pict. xi. 161 The massacre of Scio burst upon us like a thunder⁓clap. 1864C. Knight Passages Work. Life I. i. 17 The loudest thunder-clap..would produce such a concussion of the air.
b. transf. of other loud noises.
1610R. Niccols Winter Nt.'s Vis., K. Arthur xxx, The thunder claps of clashing armes. 1711Addison Spect. 40 ⁋6 With what Thunder-claps of Applause he leaves the Stage. 1924R. Campbell Flaming Terrapin iv. 65 And steepled cities stun the hollow sky With thunderclaps of bells as they go by.
c. fig. A sudden startling or terrifying occurrence, act, utterance, or piece of news. (Cf. thunderbolt 2.)
1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 243 Untill that fatal thunder-clap [the Dissolution] overthrew all the Monasteries of England. 1665Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 331 A thunderclap was heard..anathematizing Elharu-Esed. 1852Jerdan Autobiog. II. v. 49 A thunder-clap burst open and astonished Europe; Buonaparte had escaped from Elba. 1886G. Allen Maimie's Sake xxvii, It was as great a thunder-clap to me as to you. |