Definition of "lightning" []

• An abrupt, discontinuous natural electric discharge in the atmosphere. (noun)
• The visible flash of light accompanying such a discharge. (noun)
• Informal A sudden, usually improbable stroke of fortune. (noun)
• To discharge a flash of lightning. (verb-intransitive)
• Moving or occurring with remarkable speed or suddenness. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "When we come back, what we call our lightning round."
• "I remember one of the operations that did go on in -- well, not actually in Basra; I believe it was in Az Zubayr, British forces, what they described as a lightning quick raid."
• "It usually happens that the exhalation that is ejected is inflamed and burns with a thin and faint fire: this is what we call lightning, where we see as it were the exhalation coloured in the act of its ejection."