lightning rod

lightning rod

English

Noun

The lightning rod

lightning rod (plural lightning rods)

1. A metallic conductor that is attached to a high point of a building and leads to the ground and protects the building from damage by lightning
2. (figuratively) A person or thing that is a target for negative reactions and distracts criticism from another target.

Synonyms

• lightning conductor (British)

Translations

metallic conductor that protects from lightning

Armenian: շանթարգել (hy) (šantʿargel) Bashkir: йәшен ҡайтарғыс (yäšen qaytarğïs) Crimean Tatar: yaşınçeker Czech: hromosvod (cs) m, bleskosvod m Dutch: bliksemafleider (nl) m, donderroede (nl) f Esperanto: fulmoŝirmilo Finnish: ukkosenjohdatin (fi) French: paratonnerre (fr) m German: Blitzableiter (de) m Greek: αλεξικέραυνο (el) n (alexikéravno) Hungarian: villámhárító (hu) Italian: parafulmine (it) m Japanese: 避雷針 (ja) (ひらいしん, hiraishin)

Norwegian: Bokmål: lynavleder m Nynorsk: lynavleiar m Polish: piorunochron (pl) m Portuguese: para-raios (pt) m Russian: громоотво́д (ru) m (gromootvód), молниеотво́д (ru) m (molnijeotvód) Serbo-Croatian: gromobran (sh), munjobran, gromosvod Slovene: strelovod (sl) m Spanish: pararrayos (es) m Swedish: åskledare c Tagalog: kayag-kidlat, pararayos Thai: สายล่อฟ้า (sǎai-lɔ̂ɔ-fáa)

metaphorically: person or thing that distracts criticism from another target

Czech: hromosvod (cs) m Finnish: ukkosenjohdatin (fi)

Russian: стрелочник (ru) m (streločnik), козёл отпуще́ния (ru) (kozjól otpuščénija)

Further reading

• lightning rod on Wikipedia.Wikipedia