Emily Dickinson Lexicon

TOR-NA'DO, n. [from the root of turn; that is, a whirling wind. The Sp. and Port. tornada is a return.]

A violent gust of wind, or a tempest, distinguished by a whirling motion. Tornadoes of this kind happen after extreme heat, and sometimes in the United States, rend up fences and trees, and in a few instances have overthrown houses and torn them to pieces. Tornadoes are usually accompanied with severe thunder, lightning and torrents of rain; but they are of short duration, and narrow in breadth.