ASSAULT • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Assault

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/əsˈɔlt/ Listen

noun

Assault n.

1.

A violent onset or attack with physical means, as blows, weapons, etc.; an onslaught; the rush or charge of an attacking force; onset; as, to make assault upon a man, a house, or a town. "The Spanish general prepared to renew the assault." "Unshaken bears the assault Of their most dreaded foe, the strong southwest."

2.

A violent onset or attack with moral weapons, as words, arguments, appeals, and the like; as, to make an assault on the prerogatives of a prince, or on the constitution of a government.

3.

(Law) An apparently violent attempt, or willful offer with force or violence, to do hurt to another; an attempt or offer to beat another, accompanied by a degree of violence, but without touching his person, as by lifting the fist, or a cane, in a threatening manner, or by striking at him, and missing him. If the blow aimed takes effect, it is a battery. "Practically, however, the word assault is used to include the battery."

Synonyms: Attack; invasion; incursion; descent; onset; onslaught; charge; storm.

verb

Assault v. t. (past & past part. assaulted; pres. part. assaulting)

1.

To make an assault upon, as by a sudden rush of armed men; to attack with unlawful or insulting physical violence or menaces. "Insnared, assaulted, overcome, led bound."

2.

To attack with moral means, or with a view of producing moral effects; to attack by words, arguments, or unfriendly measures; to assail; as, to assault a reputation or an administration. "Before the gates, the cries of babes newborn,... Assault his ears." Note: In the latter sense, assail is more common.

Synonyms: To attack; assail; invade; encounter; storm; charge. See Attack.

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Etymology of 'Assault'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Assault" Quotes from Famous Books

... popular, and it was felt that an athletic display would probably be held at Christmas. This was something to work for, and every one seemed much keener than formerly. Winona was naturally an enthusiast, and tried to keep others up to the mark. She had once seen an "Assault-at-Arms" at Percy's college, and the memory of it made her long for the Seaton High School to have a similar opportunity of showing its prowess. She and a select circle of friends practiced whenever ...

— The Luckiest Girl in the School • Angela Brazil

... class is narrowed, as often as a more exclusive interest asserts itself over the general. Every demand for the most simple bourgeois financial reform, for the most ordinary liberalism, for the most commonplace republicanism, for the flattest democracy, is forthwith punished as an "assault upon society," and is branded as "Socialism." Finally the High Priests of "Religion and Order" themselves are kicked off their tripods; are fetched out of their beds in the dark; hurried into patrol wagons, thrust into jail or sent into exile; their temple is razed ...

— The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte • Karl Marx

... Approach'd, and dread as homicidal Mars Meriones. But never mind of man Could even in silent recollection name 315 The whole vast multitude who, following these Renew'd the battle on the part of Greece. The Trojans first, with Hector at their head, Wedged in close phalanx, rush'd to the assault As when within some rapid river's mouth 320 The billows and stream clash, on either shore[3] Loud sounds the roar[3] of waves ejected wide, Such seem'd the clamors of the Trojan host. But the Achaians, one in heart, around Patroclus stood, bulwark'd with shields of brass 325 And over all ...

— The Iliad of Homer - Translated into English Blank Verse • Homer

... Anne of Savoy might rejoice in the fall of a haughty and ambitious minister, but while she delayed to resolve or to act, the populace, more especially the mariners, were excited by the widow of the great duke to a sedition, an assault, and a massacre. The prisoners (of whom the far greater part were guiltless or inglorious of the deed) escaped to a neighboring church: they were slaughtered at the foot of the altar; and in his death the monster was not less bloody and venomous than in his life. Yet his ...

— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 6 • Edward Gibbon

... and never approached the window lest I should be discovered by accident. Notwithstanding these precautions, my French maid, whom I had sent for some of my clothes, was dogged in her return, and next morning my lord took my lodgings by storm. Had he given the assault in his person only, I make no doubt but he would have suffered a repulse from the opposition of the Liegeoise, who made all the resistance in her power; but was obliged to give way to superior numbers. I was at that ...

— The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, Volume I • Tobias Smollett

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