ball lightning

American  

noun

1. a rare form of lightning, consisting of a bright, luminous ball that moves rapidly along objects or floats in the air.

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ball lightning British  

noun

1. meteorol a luminous electrically charged ball occasionally seen during electrical storms

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ball lightning Scientific  

1. A rare form of lightning in the shape of a glowing red ball, associated with thunderstorms and sometimes accompanied by a loud noise. Ball lightning is thought to consist of ionized gas.

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Etymology

Origin of ball lightning

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

With all this information at hand, Hughes drew a potential connection between green fireballs—which can be caused by fast-moving meteors—and ball lightning.

From Scientific American • Aug. 15, 2022

The “Handbook of Unusual Natural Phenomena” was a weird and obscure tome packed with reports of such freaks of nature as ball lightning, luminescent tornadoes and “rogue waves” coming out of nowhere to swamp ships.

From Seattle Times • May 31, 2020

Along the way, he meets an obsessive army weapons engineer named Lin Yun, who wants to harness the power of ball lightning into a new weapon.

From The Verge • Dec. 21, 2018

It will allow viewers to mull over phenomena from forecasting and renewable energy to ball lightning, and check out clothing designed to protect against the elements.

From Nature • Jan. 3, 2017

In the Monthly Weather Review, 33-409, there is an account of "ball lightning" that struck a tree.

From The Book of the Damned by Fort, Charles