storm

See also: Storm

English
WOTD – 25 August 2023

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English storm (“disturbed state of the atmosphere; heavy precipitation; battle, conflict; attack”) [and other forms],[1] from Old English storm (“tempest, storm; attack; storm of arrows; disquiet, disturbance, tumult, uproar; onrush, rush”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *sturm (“storm”), from Proto-Germanic *sturmaz (“storm”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)twerH- (“to agitate, stir up; to propel; to urge on”).[2] Related to stir.

cognates

Noun

storm (plural storms)

  1. 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; a tempest.
    The boat was torn to pieces in the storm, and nobody survived.
    1. (by extension) A heavy fall of precipitation (hail, rain, or snow) or bout of lightning and thunder without strong winds; a hail storm, rainstorm, snowstorm, or thunderstorm.
    2. (by extension) Synonym of cyclone (“a weather phenomenon consisting of a system of winds rotating around a centre of low atmospheric pressure”)
    3. (by extension, Canada, Scotland, US, dated) A period of frosty and/or snowy weather.
    4. (meteorology) 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 (64–72 miles per hour; 11 on the scale, known as a "violent storm").
  2. (figurative)
    1. A heavy expulsion or fall of things (as blows, objects which are thrown, etc.).
      a storm of bullets
    2. A violent agitation of human society; a domestic, civil, or political commotion.
      Synonyms: tempest, tumult
      The proposed reforms have led to a political storm.
    3. A violent commotion or outbreak of sounds, speech, thoughts, etc.; also, an outpouring of emotion.
      a storm of protest
    4. (pathology) Chiefly with a qualifying word: a violent attack of diease, pain, physiological reactions, symptoms, etc.; a paroxysm.
      asthmatic storm    cytokine storm
  3. (Canada, US, chiefly in the plural) Ellipsis 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”).
Hyponyms
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Descendants
  • → Esperanto: ŝtormo
  • → Irish: stoirm
  • → Scottish Gaelic: stoirm
Translations
heavy fall of precipitation or bout of lightning and thunder without strong winds — see hail storm,‎ rainstorm,‎ snowstorm,‎ thunderstorm
synonym of cyclone — see cyclone
violent agitation of human society; domestic, civil, or political commotion — see tumult
ellipsis of storm window — see storm window
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

See also

Etymology 2

The verb is derived from Middle English stormen (“of the wind: to blow violently; to cause to roll or toss”),[3] from storm (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitives of verbs).[4][5]

Compare Middle English sturmen (“to attack (someone) with great force”),[6] from Old English styrman (“to rage, storm; to make a great noise, cry aloud, shout, storm”), from Proto-West Germanic *sturmijan (“to storm”), from Proto-Germanic *sturmijaną (“to storm”), from *sturmaz (“a storm”) (see etymology 1) + *-janą (suffix forming causatives from strong verbs, with a sense of ‘to cause to do [the action of the verb]’).[7] The Middle English word did not survive into modern English.

The noun is derived from verb sense 2.3 (“to violently assault (a fortified position or stronghold, a building, etc.) with the aim of gaining control of it”).[2]

cognates

Verb

storm (third-person singular simple present storms, present participle storming, simple past and past participle stormed)

  1. (impersonal, chiefly US) Preceded 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.
  2. (transitive)
    1. To make (someone or something) stormy; to agitate (someone or something) violently.
    2. (figurative)
      1. To disturb or trouble (someone).
        Synonyms: see Thesaurus:annoy
      2. To use (harsh language).
    3. (chiefly military) To 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.
      • 1692 (date written), Matthew Prior, “Ode; in Imitation of Horace, 3 Od. ii.”, in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior […], volume II, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan, […], published 1779, →OCLC, stanza II, page 112:
        All night beneath hard heavy arms to vvatch; / All day to mount the trench, to ſtorm the breach; […]
      • 1820 July, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Philip of Pokanoket. An Indian Memoir.”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., 1st UK edition, volume II, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, pages 259–260:
        The assailants were repulsed in their first attack, and several of their bravest officers were shot down in the act of storming the fortress, sword in hand.
      • 1974, K. S. Karol, “The August of the Ultra-Left”, in Mervyn Jones, transl., The Second Chinese Revolution […], New York, N.Y.: Hill and Wang, →OCLC, page 278:
        The crowd was patient and never dreamed of storming Chungnanhai (which could scarcely have resisted a mass assault) and the most battle-tested groups made no attempt to send their commandos to kidnap the “highest leader.” Calm—if one may use the word—prevailed, and the group leaders were content to lead their followers in chanting slogans against Liu [Shaoqi] and quotations from Mao [Zedong]. The Chairman, like Vice-Chairman Lin Piao, had been away on a tour of inspection in the provinces since early July; at the time of the siege of Chungnanhai, he was in Wuhan.
      1. (figurative, often poetic) To assault or gain control or power over (someone's heart, mind, etc.).
    4. (by extension, especially in command economies) To catch up (on production output) by making frenzied or herculean efforts.
      They were storming near the end of the month to salvage some goodwill.
    5. (British, dialectal, agriculture) To protect (seed-hay) from stormy weather by putting sheaves of them into small stacks.
  3. (intransitive)
    1. Of the weather: to be violent, with strong winds and usually lightning and thunder, and/or hail, rain, or snow.
    2. To be exposed to harsh (especially cold) weather.
    3. (figurative)
      1. To move noisily and quickly like a storm (noun sense 1), usually in a state of anger or uproar.
        She stormed out of the room.
        • 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Vision of Sin”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 214:
          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; […]
        • 1855, Alfred Tennyson, “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza 2, page 152:
          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.
        • 1960 October, P. Ransome-Wallis, “Modern Motive Power of the German Federal Railway: Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 611:
          A lovely crisp exhaust: a feeling of almost unlimited power combined with complete freedom of running: and, to crown it all, a most melodious and wholly American chime whistle—these were my immediate impressions as we stormed rapidly out of Göttingen, intent on winning back some of the lost time.
      2. (by extension, chiefly military) To move quickly in the course of an assault on a fortified position or stronghold, a building, etc.
      3. To be in a violent temper; to use harsh language; to fume, to rage.
Conjugation
Conjugation of storm
infinitive (to) storm
present tense past tense
1st-person singular storm stormed
2nd-person singular storm, stormest† stormed, stormedst†
3rd-person singular storms, stormeth† stormed
plural storm
subjunctive storm stormed
imperative storm —
participles storming stormed

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms
Translations
to disturb or trouble (someone) — see disturb,‎ trouble

Noun

storm (plural storms)

  1. (military) A violent assault on a fortified position or stronghold.
Translations

References
  1. “storm, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. Compare “storm, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “storm, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. “stormen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. “-en, suf.(3)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  5. “storm, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “storm, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  6. “sturmen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  7. Compare “† sturme, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.

Further reading

Anagrams

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch storm.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /stɔrm/, [stɔɾm], [ˈstɔɾəm]
  • The plural is almost always disyllabic.
  • Audio(file)

Noun

storm (plural storms)

  1. storm

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse stormr (“storm”), from Proto-Germanic *sturmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)twer-, *(s)tur- (“to rotate, swirl, twirl, move around”).

Noun

storm c (singular definite stormen, plural indefinite storme)

  1. storm

Inflection
Declension of storm
common
gender		 Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative storm stormen storme stormene
genitive storms stormens stormes stormenes

Verb

storm

  1. imperative of storme

Dutch

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /stɔrm/
  • Audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: storm
  • Rhymes: -ɔrm

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch storm, from Old Dutch *storm, from Proto-West Germanic *sturm, from Proto-Germanic *sturmaz.

Noun

storm m (plural stormen, diminutive stormpje n)

  1. storm; a wind scale for very strong wind, stronger than a gale, less than a hurricane.
  2. (of sieges or battles) assault, storming
    Synonym: bestorming
Usage notes

Unlike English storm, the Dutch word is not associated with rainfall. A storm may, of course, be accompanied by rainfall, but the word as such refers only to strong winds.

Derived terms
Descendants

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

storm

  1. inflection of stormen:
    1. first-person singular present indicative
    2. imperative

Anagrams

Icelandic

Noun

storm

  1. indefinite accusative singular of stormur

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *storm, from Proto-West Germanic *sturm.

Noun

storm m

  1. storm, violent weather
  2. storm, heavy wind
  3. storm, assault

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants
  • Dutch: storm
  • Limburgish: stórm

Further reading
  • “storm (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
  • Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “storm”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Middle English
storm

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Old English storm.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /stɔrm/

Noun

storm (plural stormes)

  1. A storm; an instance of intense wind and precipitation (including a snowstorm)
  2. An armed dispute, brawl or fight; an instance of combativeness.
  3. (rare) Any intense event, happening, or force.

Descendants

References

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Old Norse stormr, from Proto-Germanic *sturmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)twer-, *(s)tur- (“to rotate, swirl, twirl, move around”).

Noun

storm m (definite singular stormen, indefinite plural stormer, definite plural stormene)

  1. a storm
    En kraftig storm er venta seinere i dag.
    A strong storm is expected to hit later today.
    en storm i et vannglass - a storm in a teacup (British)
Derived terms

Verb

storm

  1. imperative of storme

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse stormr, from Proto-Germanic *sturmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)twer-, *(s)tur- (“to rotate, swirl, twirl, move around”). Akin to English storm.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /stɔrm/

Noun

storm m (definite singular stormen, indefinite plural stormar, definite plural stormane)

  1. storm (a very strong wind, stronger than a gale, less than a hurricane)
    Ein kraftig storm er venta seinare i dag.
    A strong storm is expected to hit later today.

Derived terms

References

Old English

Alternative forms
  • stearm

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *sturm, whence also Old Saxon storm, Old High German sturm, Old Norse stormr.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /storm/, [storˠm]

Noun

storm m

  1. storm

Declension
Declension of storm (strong a-stem)
Case Singular Plural
nominative storm stormas
accusative storm stormas
genitive stormes storma
dative storme stormum

Descendants

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish stormber, from Old Norse stormr, from Proto-Germanic *sturmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)twer-, *(s)tur- (“to rotate, swirl, twirl, move around”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /stɔrm/
  • Audio (Phrase including indefinite article: en storm, literally 'a storm'. Female speaker from Gotland, Sweden.)(file)

Noun

storm c

  1. storm; heavy winds or weather associated with storm winds.

Declension
Declension of storm 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative storm stormen stormar stormarna
Genitive storms stormens stormars stormarnas

See also

Further reading

Anagrams
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