spent

[gil12345]

I have a sentence from National Geographic.

"Three or four minutes later, the clouds had moved on. Light reclaimed the horizon. A rainbow appeared and atoned for the storm, now spent."

I don't understand the underlined part. Please help.

Thank you.

 

[owlman5]

If a storm is "spent", that storm has lost its force. The weather is getting calmer.

 

[gil12345]

Thanks a lot.

 

[redgiant]

This is the first time I've seen "spent" used with a abating storm. Does it sound natural to native speakers?

 

[entangledbank]

Yes. It may be a transfer from human emotions: we say anger or passion is spent. I wouldn't say the snow was spent if it had stopped snowing; it seems more appropriate to the ferocity of a storm.