Storm

When used as a verb of motion, storm always denotes the mover's mood as negative. If an uninitiated listener were to catch the following snippet of dialogue on the bus (and nothing more of the conversation), the listener could correctly infer that the individual under discussion was not in good spirits:

Speaker A: "What happened?"

Speaker B: "Well, Bill got up and stormed out of the room."

It is also interesting to note that the listener could make further deductions about what had happened with "Bill," despite the fact that the listener is completely removed from any knowledge of the situation proper. For example, since Bill stormed out of the room, it is a tenable conclusion that the reason for his storming was his dissatisfaction with something that had transpired within the confines of the room in which he was.

Storm carries with it implications of certain types of movement. An individual in the process of storming doesn't move quietly or tenderly. The very use of storm is meant to liken the motions of the stormer to the storms
(n.) with which we are all familiar. Motions associated with storm are loud, overtly noticeable body movements. Heavy footwork is a key feature of storm, which might suggest a relationship between the use of storm as a verb of angry motion and the similar verbs stomp and stamp.

 

Patrick K Morgan