Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An atmospheric disturbance manifested in strong winds accompanied by rain, snow, or other precipitation and often by thunder and lightning.
  • noun A wind with a speed from 48 to 55 knots (55 to 63 miles per hour; 89 to 102 kilometers per hour), according to the Beaufort scale.
  • noun A heavy shower of objects, such as bullets or missiles.
  • noun A strong or violent outburst, as of emotion or excitement.
  • noun A violent disturbance or upheaval, as in political, social, or domestic affairs.
  • noun A violent, sudden attack on a fortified place.
  • noun A storm window.
  • intransitive verb To blow with strong winds and usually produce copious rain, snow, or other precipitation.
  • intransitive verb To behave or shout angrily; rant and rage.
  • intransitive verb To move or rush tumultuously, violently, or angrily.
  • intransitive verb To assault or capture suddenly: synonym: attack.
  • intransitive verb To travel around (a place) vigorously in an attempt to gain support.
  • intransitive verb To shout angrily.
  • idiom (take by storm) To captivate completely.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A disturbance of the normal condition of the atmosphere, manifesting itself by winds of unusual direction or force, or by rain (often with lightning and thunder), snow, or hail, or by several of these phenomena in combination; a tempest: also used with reference to precipitation only, as in hail-storm, thunder-storm, snow-storm.
  • noun Specifically— Technically, in nautical use, a wind of force 11 on the Beaufort scale, being that in which a man-of-war could carry only storm-staysails.
  • noun A fall of snow.
  • noun A prolonged frost.
  • noun Hence, figuratively A tempestuous flight or descent of objects fiercely hurled: as, a storm of missiles.
  • noun A violent disturbance or agitation of human society; a civil, political, or domestic commotion; a tumult; a clamor.
  • noun A destructive or overwhelming calamity; extremity of adversity or disaster.
  • noun A vehement or passionate outbreak, as of some emotion, or of the expression of such emotion: as, a storm of indignation; a storm of applause; a storm of hisses.
  • noun Milit., a violent assault on a fortified place or strong position; a dashing attempt by troops to capture a fortified place, as by scaling the walls or forcing the gates.
  • noun See the adjectives.
  • noun To captivate or carry away by surprising or delighting: as, the new singer has taken the town by storm.
  • noun Synonyms Tempest, etc. See wind.
  • To blow with great force; also, to rain, hail, snow, or sleet, especially with violence: used impersonally: as, it storms.
  • To fume; scold; rage; be in a violent agitation or passion; raise a tempest.
  • To move with violence; rush angrily or impetuously: as, he stormed about the room.
  • To attack and attempt to take possession of, as by scaling walls or forcing gates or breaches; assault: as, to storm a fortified town: often used figuratively.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To raise a tempest.
  • intransitive verb To blow with violence; also, to rain, hail, snow, or the like, usually in a violent manner, or with high wind; -- used impersonally.
  • intransitive verb To rage; to be in a violent passion; to fume.
  • transitive verb (Mil.) To assault; to attack, and attempt to take, by scaling walls, forcing gates, breaches, or the like.
  • noun A violent disturbance of the atmosphere, attended by wind, rain, snow, hail, or thunder and lightning; hence, often, a heavy fall of rain, snow, or hail, whether accompanied with wind or not.
  • noun A violent agitation of human society; a civil, political, or domestic commotion; sedition, insurrection, or war; violent outbreak; clamor; tumult.
  • noun A heavy shower or fall, any adverse outburst of tumultuous force; violence.
  • noun (Mil.) A violent assault on a fortified place; a furious attempt of troops to enter and take a fortified place by scaling the walls, forcing the gates, or the like.
  • noun (Meteor.) a storm characterized by a central area of high atmospheric pressure, and having a system of winds blowing spirally outward in a direction contrary to that cyclonic storms. It is attended by low temperature, dry air, infrequent precipitation, and often by clear sky. Called also high-area storm, anticyclone. When attended by high winds, snow, and freezing temperatures such storms have various local names, as blizzard, wet norther, purga, buran, etc.
  • noun (Meteor.) A cyclone, or low-area storm. See Cyclone, above.
  • noun See under Magnetic.
  • noun a designation given to the literary agitation and revolutionary development in Germany under the lead of Goethe and Schiller in the latter part of the 18th century.
  • noun (Meteorol.) the center of the area covered by a storm, especially by a storm of large extent.
  • noun (Arch.) an extra outside door to prevent the entrance of wind, cold, rain, etc.; -- usually removed in summer.
  • noun (Meteorol.) the course over which a storm, or storm center, travels.
  • noun (Zoöl.) See Stormy petrel, under Petrel.
  • noun (Naut.) any one of a number of strong, heavy sails that are bent and set in stormy weather.
  • noun See the Note under Cloud.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To move quickly and noisily like a storm, usually in a state of uproar or anger.
  • verb To assault (a stronghold or fortification) with military forces.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English stormen, sturmen, from Old English styrman ("to storm, rage; make a great noise, cry aloud, shout"), from Proto-Germanic *sturmijanan (“to storm”). Cognate with Dutch stormen ("to storm; bluster"), Low German stormen ("to storm"), German stürmen ("to storm; rage; attack; assault"), Swedish storma ("to storm; bluster"), Icelandic storma ("to storm").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English storm, from Old English storm ("a storm, tempest; a storm of arrows; disturbance, disquiet; uproar, tumult; rush, onrush, attack, violent attack"), from Proto-Germanic *sturmaz (“storm”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)twer-, *(s)tur- (“to rotate, swirl, twirl, move around”). Cognate with Scots storm ("storm"), West Frisian stoarm ("storm"), Dutch storm ("storm"), Low German storm ("storm"), German Sturm ("storm"), Danish storm ("storm"), Swedish storm ("storm"), Icelandic stormur ("storm"). Related to stir.

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