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

His next novel, Ball Lightning, is being translated into English, and follows a boy named Chen who watched his parents die in a blast of ball lightning.

From The Verge • Aug. 1, 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

Upon general principles we think that explosives have not been purposely dropped, but that parts have been racked off, and have fallen, exploding like the things called "ball lightning."

From The Book of the Damned by Fort, Charles