lightning rod

Definition

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.

Example Sentences

• ""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.""
• "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 [Brendan] O’Leary."
• "Though hardly a novel claim nowadays[…] it made [Jean] Twenge a lightning rod in the research world, where some academics remain skeptical of the panic over smartphones."