Crossword clues for assail
assail
- Aggressively attack
- Trouble dogs American behind attack
- Lay into
- Rip into
- Attack vigorously
- Criticize sharply
- Attack with vigor
- Verbally assault, perhaps
- Verbally attack
- Harshly criticize
- Lay siege to
- Have at
- Pounce on
- Jump on
- Fall upon
- Attack with abandon
- Strike out at
- Ridicule or berate
- Vigorously attack
- Go after violently
- Go after (6)
- Fall on
- Descend upon
- Criticize strongly
- Batter, e.g
- Attack, either physically or verbally
- Lambaste
- Go at
- Attack verbally
- Lash out at
- Beleaguer
- Storm
- Set upon violently
- Lace into
- Pounce upon
- Light into
- Set on
- Tear into
- Attack violently
- Attack fervently
- Go after with vigor
- Strongly criticize
- Besiege
- Jump and thump
- Beset
- Go all out against
- Violently attack
- Go for a small sheet of canvas
- Carouse as of old, hiding whiskey in mug, say
- Severely criticise wife leaving to sing carols at Christmas
- Set about a journey by sea, say
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Assail \As*sail"\ ([a^]s*s[=a]l"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Assailed (-s[=a]ld"); p. pr. & vb. n. Assailing.] [OE. assailen, asailen, OF. asaillir, assailler, F. assaillir; a (L. ad) + saillir to burst out, project, fr. L. salire to leap, spring; cf. L. assilire to leap or spring upon. See Sally.]
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To attack with violence, or in a vehement and hostile manner; to assault; to molest; as, to assail a man with blows; to assail a city with artillery.
No rude noise mine ears assailing.
--Cowper.No storm can now assail The charm he wears within.
--Keble. -
To encounter or meet purposely with the view of mastering, as an obstacle, difficulty, or the like.
The thorny wilds the woodmen fierce assail.
--Pope. -
To attack morally, or with a view to produce changes in the feelings, character, conduct, existing usages, institutions; to attack by words, hostile influence, etc.; as, to assail one with appeals, arguments, abuse, ridicule, and the like.
The papal authority . . . assailed.
--Hallam.They assailed him with keen invective; they assailed him with still keener irony.
--Macaulay.Syn: To attack; assault; invade; encounter; fall upon. See Attack.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
vb. To attack violently using words or force.
WordNet
v. attack someone physically or emotionally; "The mugger assaulted the woman"; "Nightmares assailed him regularly" [syn: assault, set on, attack]
launch an attack or assault on; begin hostilities or start warfare with; "Hitler attacked Poland on September 1, 1939 and started World War II"; "Serbian forces assailed Bosnian towns all week" [syn: attack] [ant: defend]
attack in speech or writing; "The editors of the left-leaning paper attacked the new House Speaker" [syn: attack, round, lash out, snipe, assault]
Wikipedia
Assail may refer to:
- Assail (Malazan), a continent in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series
- HMAS Assail (P 89), an Attack-class patrol boat
- USS Assail (AM-147), an Admirable-class minesweeper
Usage examples of "assail".
He called persistently for reinforcements, remaining inactive meanwhile, because he estimated the Confederate army before him at two hundred thousand men, and was unwilling to assail this force, under command of soldiers like Johnston and Lee, until his own force seemed adequate to the undertaking.
Williamsburg and Charles City roads, and intercept him, or assail his flanks.
Ignorant, doubtless, of the extremely small force which had thus repulsed General Burnside, in all four thousand five hundred men, he feared that General Lee would cross the bridge, assail his left, and that the hard-fought day might end in disaster to his own army.
General McClellan held them, as he proposed to do, by strong detachments, he would be able both to protect his own communications with the Potomac, and, if he thought fit to do so, enter the Valley and assail the Confederate rear.
South of the river the land is low, but from the depth of the channel forms a line of bluffs, affording good shelter to troops after crossing to assail a force beyond.
The great force of one hundred and fifty thousand men was about to make the decisive assault, when Lee attacked it, and the battle which ensued drove the Federal army to a point thirty miles from the city, with such loss as to render hopeless any further attempt to assail the capital.
As it was, General Hooker seemed to have won the prize in the race, and Lee would, apparently, be forced to assail him on his strong ground, or retire in the direction of Richmond.
Telegraph road southward, and General Sedgwick promptly advanced up the turnpike leading from Fredericksburg to Chancellorsville, to assail General Lee.
In order to cooeperate in this, the main attack, Ewell was ordered at the same time to assail the Federal right toward Gettysburg, and Hill directed to threaten their centre, and, if there were an opening, make a real attack.
Under these circumstances the Federal commander resolved to give up the attempt to assail Richmond from the north or east, and by a rapid movement to Petersburg, seize upon that place, cut the Confederate railroads leading southward, and thus compel an evacuation of the capital.
Although the King of Prussia had been the first of all the coalition to assail republican France, yet, in the spring of this year, he concluded a separate treaty with its democratic rulers.
Saro stood over his brother for a few moments, clenching and unclenching his hands, fighting down the nausea that threatened to assail him.
The memory of the voice she had heard, urging her to stay behind, she pushed firmly away, locked it into the small box at the back of her mind where she kept all the doubts and fears and other extraneous matters that tried to assail her as she was making the first move off the ground.
I will wed you, and go never to war again - save only to defend you, if some evil assails our home.
Whoever assails us is either too timid or too canny to do so directly.