A lightning bolt is a single stroke of electricity from cloud to ground. Struck by a lightning bolt, a lightning bolt hit the mast, like a lightning bolt.
It heats the air around it to several times the temperature of the sun's surface, and the bang is that air blowing apart. Figuratively a lightning bolt is any sudden shock, usually of news.
1nounlightning boltA single stroke of electricity from cloud to ground.
“A lightning bolt took the top off the oak by the gate.”
lightning bolt is a discharge.
Practised in Weather & Seasons