fulgurationn.
/ˌfʌlɡjᵿˈreɪʃn/, U.S. /ˌfʊlɡ(j)əˈreɪʃ(ə)n/, /ˌfəlɡ(j)əˈreɪʃ(ə)n/ 1. The action of emitting lightning, striking something with lightning, or flashing like lightning; a flash of lightning. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > naturally occurring light > [noun] > lightning > action of
fulguration1614
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > bad weather > thunder and lightning > [noun] > lightning > flash of
laitc900
flakec1400
fire-flaughta1522
flag of firea1522
lightning1560
fire-flash1586
blaze1590
fulguration1614
fulgurity1623
flaughta1724
glade1744
streak1781
1614 T. Lodge tr. Seneca Of Naturall Questions ii. xi, in tr. Seneca Wks. 782 To speake of thunder, lightning, and fulgurations [L. fulgurationibus].
1633 J. Done tr. ‘Aristeas’ Aunc. Hist. Septuagint 57 Your eyes..were so incountred with the order and splendor of the workes..so as you should be forced to turne them elsewhere, or not too stedfastly to behold their fulguration.
1690 T. Burnet Theory of Earth iii. 93 These signs are chiefly..the fulgurations of the air, and the falling of stars.
1702 R. Morden Introd. Astron. i. 21 The Fulgurations and Ebullitions in the Body of the Sun.
1767 J. C. Huxham tr. J. Huxham Observ. Air & Epidemic Dis. II. 225 Thunder and Lightning the 5th, p. m.—Several Fulgurations the 18th at Night.
1813 T. I. M. Forster Res. Atmosph. Phænom. ii. 63 The vespertine fulgurations called summer lightning are not followed by any thunder at all.
1877 tr. G. W. Leibniz Monadologie in E. Caird Crit. Acct. Philos. Kant Introd. v. 86 The continual fulgurations of divinity.
1881 N. Amer. Rev. Sept. 300 Those swift fulgurations of hope that caught us on the brink of despair.
1938 Times 12 Sept. 19/4 A verdict of ‘death by fulguration’..was returned.
2000 P. Theroux in Granta Spring 83 I love looking at the sultry fulguration of these skies.
2. Metallurgy. Iridescence or brightness shown by a metal during refining, esp. that of silver during cupellation, when only a thin film of lead oxide remains on the surface; the production of such an appearance. Cf. blick n. Now rare.
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society > occupation and work > industry > working with specific materials > working with metal > [noun] > refining > methods of
calcinationc1386
calciningc1386
liquation1471
fulmination1617
cupelling1644
decrepitating1662
decrepitation1669
fulguration1676
concentration1689
cupellationa1691
scorification1755
affination1851
thermite process1905
zone melting1952
zone refining1952
zone levelling1953
1676 E. Coles Eng. Dict. Fulguration, a reducing metals into vapours by the help of lead (in a copel) and a violent fire.
1758 A. Reid tr. P. J. Macquer Elements Theory & Pract. Chym. I. 323 If the fire be strong enough to keep the Silver in fusion..this change of colour, which is called its fulguration [Fr. fulguration], will not be so perceptible.
1804 B. Lambert tr. C. L. Berthollet Ess. Chem. Statics I. 419 When a sulphuret of iron formed by a slow fire was submitted to a heat sufficient to reduce the mixture into one mass, after the fulgoration, it had the appearance of a substance much more solid than before.
1907 H. E. Roscoe & C. Schorlemmer Treat. Chem. (ed. 4) II. 444 Before the last portions of lead are removed a beautiful appearance, known as the fulguration of the metal, is noticed.
2001 M. Eagleson & W. Brewer tr. N. Wiberg Holleman–Wiberg Inorg. Chem. xxii. 1266 Toward the end of the process, only a thin skin of litharge remains on the liquid silver, which..allows the shiny surface of the silver to show through (fulguration, blick).
3. Surgery. Destruction of tissue, esp. malignant tissue, by means of an electrical current; an instance of this.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > treatment by electricity > [noun]
electrotherapeutics1849
electrolysis1861
electrotherapy1861
faradization1867
faradism1876
faradaism1886
biotherapy1903
fulguration1907
fulgurating1909
electroshock1938
1907 Daily Chron. 11 Oct. 5/6 Dr. Hart treats cancer by ordinary surgical means, utilising fulguration as a valuable healing agent.
1957 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 11 May 1091/1 During the following three years papillary tumours reappeared in the bladder serially, requiring six transurethral fulgurations and two suprapubic coagulations.
2002 Jrnl. Urol. 167 870/1 Continued desquamation of neoplastic cells has led to early discovery of recurrent neoplasia and early treatment by fulguration or radon seeds.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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