lightning rod

English

The lightning rod

Alternative forms

• lightning-rod

Noun

lightning rod (plural lightning rods)

1. A metallic conductor that is attached to a high point of a building and leads to the ground to protect the building from damage by lightning.
   • 1856, Herman Melville, The Lightning Rod Man:

     "My special business is to travel the country for orders for lightning-rods. This is my specimen rod;" tapping his staff; "I have the best of references"-fumbling in his pockets. "In Criggan last month, I put up three-and-twenty rods on only five buildings."

2. (figuratively) A person or thing that is a target for negative reactions and distracts criticism from another target.
   • 2023 October 13, Rory Carroll, “‘The hope we had is gone’: how 20 months of stasis has paralysed Northern Ireland”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Another factor was that when the two governments changed Stormont’s rules in 2006 they left the dual premiership as the “lightning rod for other difficulties”, said O’Leary.

Synonyms

• lightning conductor (British)

Translations

metallic conductor that protects from lightning

• Arabic: مَانِعَة صَوَاعِق f (māniʕa(t) ṣawāʕiq)
• Armenian: շանթարգել (hy) (šantʻargel)
• Bashkir: йәшен ҡайтарғыс (yəşen qaytarğıs)
• Bulgarian: гръмоотвод m (grǎmootvod)
• Catalan: parallamps m
• Crimean Tatar: yaşınçeker
• Czech: hromosvod (cs) m, bleskosvod m
• Dutch: bliksemafleider (nl) m, donderroede (nl) f
• Esperanto: fulmoŝirmilo
• Estonian: piksevarras
• Finnish: ukkosenjohdatin (fi)
• French: paratonnerre (fr) m
• Galician: pararraios (gl) m
• German: Blitzableiter (de) m
• Greek: αλεξικέραυνο (el) n (alexikéravno)
• Hungarian: villámhárító (hu)
• Indonesian: penangkal petir (id)
• Ingrian: gromootvoda
• Irish: conduchtaire tintrí m
• Italian: parafulmine (it) m
• Japanese: 避雷針 (ja) (ひらいしん, hiraishin)
• Korean: 피뢰침(避雷針) (ko) (piroechim)
• Macedonian: громобран m (gromobran)
• Malay: konduktor kilat
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lynavleder m

  Nynorsk: lynavleiar m

• Polish: piorunochron (pl) m
• Portuguese: para-raios (pt) m
• Romanian: paratrăsnet (ro)
• Russian: громоотво́д (ru) m (gromootvód), молниеотво́д (ru) m (molnijeotvód)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гро̏мобра̄н m, муњобран ?, громосвод ?

  Roman: grȍmobrān (sh) m, munjobran ?, gromosvod ?

• Slovene: strelovod (sl) m
• Spanish: pararrayos (es) m
• Swedish: åskledare (sv) c
• Tagalog: kayag-kidlat, pararayos
• Thai: สายล่อฟ้า (sǎai-lɔ̂ɔ-fáa)
• Turkish: yıldırımsavar (tr), paratoner (tr)
• Ukrainian: блискави́чник m (blyskavýčnyk), блискавковідві́д m (blyskavkovidvíd), громовідвід m (hromovidvid)
• Vietnamese: cột thu lôi

metaphorically: person or thing that distracts criticism from another target

• Bulgarian: гръмоотвод m (grǎmootvod)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 颱風尾／台风尾

• Czech: hromosvod (cs) m
• Estonian: piksevarras
• Finnish: ukkosenjohdatin (fi)
• Greek: κεραυνός (el) (keravnós)
• Russian: стре́лочник (ru) m (stréločnik), козёл отпуще́ния m (kozjól otpuščénija)
• Slovak: hromozvod m

Further reading

• lightning rod on Wikipedia.Wikipedia