/stɔːm/, /stɔɹm/
- Any disturbed state of the atmosphere causing destructive or unpleasant weather, especially one affecting the earth's surface involving strong winds (leading to high waves at sea) and usually lightning, thunder, and precipitation.
“Near-synonyms: cyclone (broad sense), tempest”
“The boat was torn to pieces in the storm, and nobody survived.”
“Thou toyl'ſt in perrill, and the vvindie ſtorme, / Doth topſide-turuey toſſe thee as thou floteſt.”
- broadlyA heavy fall of precipitation (hail, rain, or snow) or bout of lightning and thunder without strong winds; a hail storm, rainstorm, snowstorm, or thunderstorm.
- broadlySynonym of cyclone (“a weather phenomenon consisting of a system of winds rotating around a centre of low atmospheric pressure”).
- Canada, Scotland, US, broadly, datedA period of frosty and/or snowy weather.
- A disturbed state of the atmosphere between a severe or strong gale and a hurricane on the modern Beaufort scale, with a wind speed of between 89 and 102 kilometres per hour (55–63 miles per hour; 10 on the scale, known as a "storm" or whole gale), or of between 103 and 117 kilometres per hour (64–7…
- figurativelyA heavy expulsion or fall of things (as blows, objects which are thrown, etc.).
“a storm of bullets”
“Adrastus firſt aduanſt his creſt aloft, / And boldly gan a ſtrong ſcalado reare, / And through the falling ſtorme did vpward clime / Of ſtones, dartes, arrovves, fire, pitch and lime: […]”
“[F]or this day will pour down, / If I conjecture aught, no drizling ſhowr, / But ratling ſtorm of Arrows barbd with fire.”
- figurativelyA violent agitation of human society; a domestic, civil, or political commotion.
“The proposed reforms have led to a political storm.”
“Savv you no more? Mark'd you not hovv hir ſiſter / Began to ſcold, and raiſe vp ſuch a ſtorme, / That moral eares might hardly indure the din.”
“VVhiles I in Ireland nouriſh a mightie Band, / I vvill ſtirre vp in England ſome black Storme, / Shall blovve then thouſand Soules to Heauen, or Hell: […]”
- figurativelyA violent commotion or outbreak of sounds, speech, thoughts, etc.; also, an outpouring of emotion.
“a storm of protest”
“[W]as there euer any thing proiected, that fauoured any vvay of nevvneſſe or renevving, but the ſame endured many a ſtorme of gaine-ſaying, or oppoſition?”
“With storms of whistlings then his flock he drave / Up to the mountains; […]”
- figurativelyChiefly with a qualifying word: a violent attack of diease, pain, physiological reactions, symptoms, etc.; a paroxysm.
“asthmatic storm cytokine storm”
“He ſvvet and ſvvet againe vvith ſuch exceſſiue ſvvoonings, as not only himſelfe, but likevviſe all the beholders, did verily deeme, that his life vvas ending. This ſtorme and miſhappe endured about ſo”
- Canada, US, abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsisEllipsis of storm window (“a second window (originally detachable) attached on the exterior side of a window in climates with harsh winters, to add an insulating layer of still air between the outside and inside”).
- A violent assault on a fortified position or stronghold.
- US, impersonalPreceded by the dummy subject it: to have strong winds and usually lightning and thunder, and/or hail, rain, or snow.
“It stormed throughout the night.”
“Throughout the night it stormed violently—rain, hail, snow, and sleet beating upon the vessel—the wind continuing ahead, and the sea running high.”
“We all like to see people seasick when we are not, ourselves. Playing whist by the cabin lamps when it is storming outside, is pleasant; walking the quarter-deck in the moonlight, is pleasant; […] but”
- transitiveTo make (someone or something) stormy; to agitate (someone or something) violently.
“And dovvne I laid to liſt the ſad tun'd tale, / Ere long eſpied a fickle maid full pale / Tearing of papers breaking rings a tvvaine, / Storming her vvorld vvith ſorrovves, vvind and raine.”
“Meantime, our simulated thunderclaps / Which tell us counterfeited truths—these same / Are—sound, when music storms the soul, perhaps?”
“The driver turned in the saddle to see if there were any chance of capturing the revolver and ending the ride. Dick roused, struck him over the head with the butt, and stormed himself wide awake.”
- figuratively, transitiveTo disturb or trouble (someone).
- figuratively, transitiveTo use (harsh language).
- transitiveTo violently assault (a fortified position or stronghold, a building, etc.) with the aim of gaining control of it.
“the storming of the Bastille”
“Troops stormed the complex.”
“All night beneath hard heavy arms to vvatch; / All day to mount the trench, to ſtorm the breach; […]”
- figuratively, often, poetic, transitiveTo assault or gain control or power over (someone's heart, mind, etc.).
“No Engines can a Tyrant find, / to ſtorm the Truth-ſupported Mind, […]”
- broadly, especially, transitiveTo catch up (on production output) by making frenzied or herculean efforts.
“They were storming near the end of the month to salvage some goodwill.”
- British, dialectal, transitiveTo protect (seed-hay) from stormy weather by putting sheaves of them into small stacks.
- intransitiveOf the weather: to be violent, with strong winds and usually lightning and thunder, and/or hail, rain, or snow.
“My harueſte haſts to ſtirre vp winter ſterne, / And bids him clayme with rigorous rage hys right. / So nowe he ſtormes with many a ſturdy ſtoure, / So now his bluſtring blaſt eche coſte doth ſcoure.”
“[H]e, whose bow thus storm'd / For our offences, may be calm'd.”
“From Shetland ſtradling vvide, his [Boreas's] foote on Thuly ſets: / VVhence ſtorming, all the vaſt Deucalidon hee threts, / And beares his boyſtrous vvaues into the narrovver mouth / Of the Verginian”
- intransitiveTo be exposed to harsh (especially cold) weather.
- figuratively, intransitiveTo move noisily and quickly like a storm (noun etymology 1 sense 1), usually in a state of anger or uproar.
“She stormed out of the room.”
“Then the music touch'd the gates and died; / Rose again from where it seem'd to fail, / Storm'd in orbs of song, a growing gale; […]”
“Storm'd at with shot and shell, / Boldly they rode and well; / Into the jaws of Death, / Into the mouth of Hell, / Rode the six hundred.”
- broadly, figuratively, intransitiveTo move quickly in the course of an assault on a fortified position or stronghold, a building, etc.
- figuratively, intransitiveTo be in a violent temper; to use harsh language; to fume, to rage.
“[T]he prieſts of the countrey cluſtering togither, began to grudge and ſtorme againſt Tindall [William Tyndale], rauing againſt him in alehouſes and other places.”
“VVhy looke you hovv you ſtorme, / I vvould be friends vvith you, and haue your loue, / Forget the ſhames that you haue ſtain'd me vvith, […]”
“O Father, storm'st thou not / To see us take these wrongs from men?”
Formsstorms(plural) · storms(present, singular, third-person) · storming(participle, present) · stormed(participle, past) · stormed(past) · storm(infinitive) · storm(first-person, present, singular) · stormed(first-person, past, singular) · storm(present, second-person, singular) · stormest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · stormed(past, second-person, singular) · stormedst(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · stormeth(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · stormed(past, singular, third-person) · storm(plural, present) · stormed(past, plural) · storm(present, subjunctive) · stormed(past, subjunctive) · storm(imperative, present) · -(imperative, past)