assail

English

Etymology

FromMiddle Englishassailen,fromOld Frenchassaillir, assalir,fromLate Latinassalīre,fromLatinad(“at, towards”)+salīre(“jump”).See alsoassault.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/əˈseɪl/

  • Audio(Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes:-eɪl
• Homophone:asail

Verb

assail(third-person singular simple presentassails,present participleassailing,simple past and past participleassailed)

1. (transitive)Toattackwith harsh words or violent force (alsofiguratively).

   Muggersassailedthem as they entered an alley.

   Our ears wereassailedby her joyous efforts on her new saxophone.

   • 1590,Edmund Spenser,“Book I, Canto VI”, inThe Faerie Queene.[…],London:[…][John Wolfe] forWilliam Ponsonbie,→OCLC,pages76-77:

     With greedy force heganthe fortassayle,
     Whereof heweendpossesse soone to bee,
     And win rich spoile of ransackt chastitee.

   • c.1599–1602(date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”,inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies[…](First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard,andEd[ward]Blount,published1623,→OCLC,[Act I, scene i]:

     […]let us once againassailyour ears,
     That are so fortified against our story,
     What we two nights have seen.

   • 1897,Saki,“The Story-teller”, inBeasts and Super-beasts‎^[1],London: John Lane, published1914,page238:

     “[…]for the next six months or so those children willassailher in public with demands for an improper story!”

   • 1942,Zora Neale Hurston,chapter 14, inDust Tracks on a Road‎^[2],New York: Arno Press and The New York Times, published1969,page258:

     We got married immediately after I finished my work[…]which should have been the happiest day of my life.[…]¶ But, it was not my happiest day. I wasassailedby doubts.

   • 2007,Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o,Wizard of the Crow,Nairobo: East African Educational Publishers, Book 2, Chapter 3, p. 64,^[3]

     He did not like being in crowds, foul smells galoreassailinghis nostrils.

Derived terms

• assailable
• assailant
• assailer
• assailment
• reassail
• unassailability
• unassailed
• unassailed
• unassailing

Related terms

• assault

Translations

to attack violently

• Bulgarian:нападам(bg)(napadam),нахвърлям се(nahvǎrljam se)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin:Công kích／Công kích(zh)(gōngjí)

• Czech:napadnout(cs)pf,napadat(cs)impf,zaútočit(cs)pf
• Finnish:käydä kimppuun
• French:assaillir(fr)
• Galician:asaltar,atacar(gl)
• Gallurese:gjumpì,imbistì
• German:angreifen(de)
• Hungarian:megtámad(hu),megrohan(hu)
• Italian:assalire(it)
• Japanese:Tập kích する(ja)(しゅうげきする, shūgeki suru)
• Latin:īnstō,incessō
• Maori:uruhi,auta,whakatorotoro
• Norman:assailli
• Occitan:assalir(oc)
• Portuguese:investir(pt)
• Russian:напада́ть(ru)impf(napadátʹ),напа́сть(ru)pf(napástʹ)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese:carrabusai,carraxai,imbistiri

  Logudorese:appiliare

• Sassarese:assarí
• Spanish:atacar(es),asaltar(es),aturdir(es)
• Turkish:saldırmak(tr),taarruz etmek(tr)(obsolescent)

Anagrams

• Alissa