thundering

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English thonderynge, þoundryng, equivalent to thunder +‎ -ing.

Verb

thundering

1. present participle and gerund of thunder
   • 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:

     ...Mr. Crofts (that was the name of my brute) was gone out of the house, after waiting till he had tired his patience for Mrs. Brown's return, they came thundering up-stairs...

Adjective

thundering (comparative more thundering, superlative most thundering)

1. Of, pertaining to, or accompanied by thunder.
2. Producing a noise or effect like thunder; thunderous.
3. (colloquial) Very great; extraordinary.
   • 1927, G. K. Chesterton, The Secret of Father Brown:

     “I think it had a thundering lot to do with the story I am considering now,” said Father Brown.

Etymology 2

From Middle English thundryng, þondring, from Old English þunring (“thundering; thunder”), equivalent to thunder +‎ -ing.

Noun

thundering (plural thunderings)

1. A loud percussive sound, like thunder.
   • 1833, Bela Bates Edwards, Memoir of the Rev. Elias Cornelius, page 275:

     I listened while God seemed to speak through the thunderings of the great cataract before me.

2. (archaic) A thunderstorm.

Anagrams

• underthing