Word.ws English Dictionary

Chicago lightning

Chicago lightning noun: bullets; gunfire.

Noun

Chicago lightning (uncountable)

  1. (US, dated, slang) Bullets; gunfire.
    • He said: "Thanks, friend; but you're wasting your time. You better warn Crocker. If that louse makes a play for me, he'll get hit with Chicago lightning!"1946, Joseph Thompson Shaw, The hard-boiled omnibus: early stories from Black Mask, page 388

Questions about Chicago lightning

What does Chicago lightning mean?
Chicago lightning means bullets; gunfire.
What part of speech is Chicago lightning?
Chicago lightning is a noun.

Words near Chicago lightning in the dictionary

  1. Chicago Boys
  2. Chicago brick
  3. Chicago dog
  4. Chicago dogs
  5. Chicago Heights
  6. Chicago lightning
  7. Chicago overcoat
  8. Chicago overcoats
  9. Chicago piano
  10. Chicago pianos
  11. Chicago pizza

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Chicago lightning (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “Chicago lightning.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chicago_lightning. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.