skyquake
Etymology
From sky + quake.
skyquake means an unexplained phenomenon that sounds like a thunderclap, cannon storm earthquake volcano or sonic boom coming from the sky, with no observable cause, heard in various countries around the world. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
Why this word is great
SKYQUAKE — [Noun] An unexplained phenomenon characterized by a loud, explosive sound emanating from the sky, resembling a thunderclap or sonic boom, with no observable cause. From sky (the region of the atmosphere above the earth) + quake (a shaking or trembling, from Old English cwacian 'to shake, tremble'), by analogy with 'earthquake'. Unlike an 'earthquake' (which announces its violence through measurable ground tremors) or a 'sonic boom' (the definitive crack of a known, technological source), a skyquake is pure, dislocated report—a detonation without a bomb. It is the sudden, window-rattling crack over a calm sea, a dry celestial cannon shot that startles birds from a cloudless noon, or the deep, tectonic groan that seems to come from the firmament itself—an oracular reminder that the atmosphere, for all our mapping, retains its capacity for abrupt and unsettling speech.
noun
- An unexplained phenomenon that sounds like a thunderclap, cannon storm earthquake volcano or sonic boom coming from the sky, with no observable cause, heard in various countries around the world.