Emily Dickinson Lexicon

THUN'DER-BOLT, n. [thunder and bolt.]

1. A shaft of lightning; a brilliant stream of the electrical fluid, passing from one part of the heavens to another, and particularly from the clouds to the earth. Ps. lxxviii.
2. Figuratively, a daring or irresistible hero; as, the Scipios, those thunderbolts of war. Dryden.
3. Fulmination; ecclesiastical denunciation. He severely threatens such with the thunderbolt of excommunication. Hakewill.
4. In mineralogy, thunder-stone. Spectator.