thunder n.
1. (US) a euph. for hell; esp. in a variety of phrs., e.g. like thunder, what in thunder, why in thunder, who the thunder, go to thunder.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | ‘A Soldier and a Sailor’ in Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) IV 119: The Soldier swore like Thunder, / He lov’d her more than Plunder. | |
| Jr. (ed.) Rhymes of Northern Bards 194: She railed at them like thunder, / For shame, cries she, what have you done? | |
| Leicester Chron. 15 Oct. 4/1: A Yankee in Boston has set up a one-horse thrashing machine [...] He’ll ‘lick’ an urchin like thunder for fourpence. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Prairie Logbooks (1983) 26 May 188: By the eternal Moses! Whar in thunder is my rifle. | |
| G’hals of N.Y. 19: How in thunder can yer expect to get along, when Laboul, and such suckers, are destroyin’ the business. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Bell’s Life in Victoria (Melbourne) 10 Oct. 3/2: ‘Merchant Brown can go to thunder, sir [...] I’ve no money’. | |
| Jeffersonian (Stroudsburg PA) 4 Mar. 1/3: ‘Go to thunder, every darned one of yeou,’ replied the pedlar. | |
| Vermont Watchman (Montpelier, VT) 26 Feb. 4/3: There sat one of the little imps [...] looking as saucy as thunder. | |
| Life in the Saddle 19: We must blow the old man up like thunder, for lying. | |
| Hoosier School-Master (1892) 241: Didn’t know who in thunder ’twas, but it was somebody a-makin’ straight fer Pete Jones’s. | |
| Sporting Gaz. (London) 1 Sept. 834/3: ‘He’s a Chinee, you know, an’ lies like thunder’. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Jan. 7/1: That’s all very well, and it’s easy saying ‘get married,’ but who in thunder has a chance alongside an ancient ‘gohanna’ like this, who is so reproductive that he turns out, apparently with ease and efficiency, fifteen young Renalls to his wife’s fourteen. | |
| ‘’Arry at the Smoking Concert’ in Punch 13 Nov. in (2006) 67: In course he got hangcored like thunder. | |
| Three Men in a Boat 64: Who the thunder put this thing here? | |
| Dead Bird (Sydney) 27 July 2/1: Why in thunder didn’t some one put a board on top. | |
| ‘Possum’ in Roderick (1967–9) I 82: An he used to swear like thunder w’en the yaller sergeant ants / Took a mornin’ stroll [...] on the inside ov ’is pants. | |
| Poker Stories 95: ‘The thunder, you say!’ roared his Honor. | |
| Dinkinbar 49: What in thunder ---? | |
| Boy’s Own Paper 28 Jan. 274: Who in the name of thunder are you? | |
 | Manchestr Courier 18 Nov. 13/7: Well, why in thunder don’t you, boss?’. | |
| Mr Trunnell Mate of the Ship ‘Pirate’ Ch. i: How the bleeding thunder could I tell you were Captain Thompson. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Dec. 27/3: What in all jumpin’ thunder / Is up with you there, Mick? | |
| Torchy 70: Tell me where in thunder you learned to spell such s-u-t-c-h! | |
| Freshman in College Comedies 15: Worden. I say, if you will pardon me, go to thunder . | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | First Hundred Thousand (1918) 161: What in thunder will they ask for next? | |
| Midnight 4: I’d buy twenty stoves [...] and tell winter to go to thunder. | |
| Chicago May (1929) 222: I knew that Annie Gleason was the daughter of a washerwoman; but why in thunder did the old cat put it that way? | |
| Reporter 22: Wish to thunder the god-damn fat-mouth would brain himself. | |
| Redheap (1965) 194: ‘Why in thunder you people couldn’t keep a proper watch over him I don’t know’ . | |
| (con. 1830s–60s) All That Swagger 115: ‘Who in thunder could keep still?’ demanded Harry. [Ibid.] 388: What in thunder for? | |
| (con. 1944) Big War 342: Why in thunder didn’t you say so! | |
| Garden of Sand (1981) 154: Steady, Son. Steady. I know it hurts like thunder. | |
| Dict. of Invective (1991) 190: Such euphemisms as blazes, Halifax, heck, Jesse, Sam Hill, and thunder. |
2. a euph. for the essence or ‘daylights’.
| Life and Adventures of an Arkansaw Doctor 494: I’ll give you particular thunder one time, and then perhaps you will stay out of here. | |
| Our Boys 91: I’ll knock thunder out o’ you! | |
| Slaver’s Adventures 349: If we could get the skipper to stand neutral, we’ll whip thunder out of the Spaniard in no time. |
3. (UK Und.) a glass of brandy.
| Pierce Egan’s Life in London 11 Mar. 885/1: ‘[F]lashes of lightning, out of number, were disposed of by the Wet Ones; snacks of thunder in equal abundance by the tumbler sort of folks; and heavy wet swallowed in such rapid succession, that a barge might have been floated by the copious quantities. | |
| New and Improved Flash Dict. |
4. (US drugs) heroin.
| ONDCP Street Terms 21: Thunder — Heroin. |
In phrases
(US) completely, comprehensively.
| (con. c.1840) Tom Sawyer 270: She makes me wash, they comb me all to thunder. | |
| Atchison (KS) Globe 24 Apr. 3/4: In my opinion it beats the punch all to thunder. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
(Aus.) men’s underpants.
| Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 80: I’ve got a bundle of lettuce and a pretty clean pair of thunderbags under me daks. |
1. with ref. to (the noise of) defecation.
(a) (also thunder bowl) a chemical or otherwise portable lavatory.
| Ghosts of the Big Country 79: He would make a ‘thunder-box’ out of a forty-four-gallon drum. | |
| Sloane Ranger Hbk 159: thunder bowl n. Lavatory. | |
| Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz 87 Dec. n.p.: thunder box n. archaic Lavatory; water closet. | |
| Good Girl Stripped Bare 8: I rush out to the thunderbox [...] ‘to vacate my bladder’. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Joys of War 30: [T]he plastic portable toilets, thunderboxes we called them. |
(b) a portable commode, an unplumbed outhouse lavatory.
| DSUE (8th edn) 1227: [...] since later C.19. | |
| Dict. Aus. Swearing & Sex Sayings 129: THUNDER BOX — The old styled out house toilet with no septic or sewerage. |
2. (Aus.) a double bass.
| Restless Men 113: It was a lively enough night, with Big Bob plunking on his thunderbox while Dally strummed a guitar. |
3. (US) a portable tape deck or radio.
| NDAS. |
(US black) an unkempt, unattractive woman, esp. with messy hair.
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 144: Synonyms for chickenhead are [...] hen, thunder chicken, nail head. |
(Irish) a loud talkative person.
| Slanguage. |
a chamberpot.
| letter in Yankee Correspondence (1996) 63: One was looking under the Bed to take the value of the thunder jug. | |
| A Sketch of Sam Bass (1956) 150: If a man could take me alive, he would make a thunder-mug full of money. | |
| Sl. and Its Analogues. | |
| ‘Word-List From East Alabama’ in DN III:v 381: thunder-mug, n. A chamber-pot. | |
| ‘Word-List From Western Indiana’ in DN III:viii 592: thunder-mug, n. A chamber-pot. | |
| ‘Thundermug’ in Texas Stories (1995) 70: On Sunday mornings the early flushing of the thundermug in tank ten would waken the deputy’s family. | |
| N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 21 Feb. 16: All draped out in his finest from his thunder-mug sky to his white carnation. | |
| (con. 1880s) Pedlocks (1971) 89: No, sirree, we’ll go to Irene’s. Classiest stuff this side of Denver [...] Solid gold thunder mugs. | |
| Mr Madam (1967) 21: There were no toilets [...] We had our own Victorian thundermugs with our names on. | |
| Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz 87 Dec. n.p.: thunder mug n. Chamber pot. | |
| Dreamcatcher 113: I looked in the thunderjug. |
an overweight person, esp. with fat thighs.
| More Tales of the City (1984) 63: Save the schmaltz for Thunder Thighs. | |
| Aberdeen Press 30 Dec. 6/3: The most common nicknames for the pleasingly podgy are [...] Thunder-Thighs, Tree-trunks and Fatso. | |
| Liverpool Echo 20 July 25/5: Why not try an exercise bike [...] you won’t have to [...] risk baring those thunder-thighs in public. | |
| Guardian G2 12 Aug. 9: White boys used to call me ‘thunder thighs.’. | |
| OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 thunderthighs adj. description of a female with large fat or ‘thick’ legs. | |
| Chicago Trib. 24 Aug. 8/1: The world’s largest maker of athletic shoes has [...] a campaign featuring close-ups of ‘big butts’ and ‘thunder-thighs’. |
In phrases
see separate entries.