What is "assault"

Assault \As*sault"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Assaulted; p. pr. & vb. n. Assaulting.] [From Assault, n.: cf. OF. assaulter, LL. assaltare.]

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.
   --Milton.

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.
   --Dryden.

   Note: In the latter sense, assail is more common.

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

Assault \As*sault"\, n. [OE. asaut, assaut, OF. assaut, asalt, F. assaut, LL. assaltus; L. ad + saltus a leaping, a springing, salire to leap. See Assail.]

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.
   --Prescott.

   Unshaken bears the assault Of their most dreaded foe, the strong southwest.
   --Wordsworth.

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.
   --Clarendon.

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.
   --Blackstone. Wharton.

   Practically, however, the word assault is used to include the battery.
   --Mozley & W.

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

late 14c., earlier asaut (c.1200), from Old French asaut, assaut "an attack, an assault, attacking forces" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *adsaltus "attack, assault," from ad "to" (see ad-) + Latin saltus "a leap," from salire "to leap, spring" (see assail). In law by 1580s; historically, assault includes menacing words or actions; battery is an actual blow.

early 15c., from Middle French asauter, assauter, from Vulgar Latin *assaltare (see assault (n.)). Related: Assaulted; assaulting.

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. 2 A violent onset or attack with moral weapons, as words, arguments, appeals, and the like; as, to make an assault on the prerogative of a prince, or on the constitution of a government. 3 (context criminal legal English) An attempt to commit battery: a violent attempt, or willful effort with force or violence, to do hurt to another, but without necessarily touching his person, as by lifting a fist in a threatening manner, or by striking at him and missing him. 4 (context singulare tantum legal English) The crime whose action is such an attempt. 5 (context tort legal English) An act that causes someone to apprehend imminent bodily harm. 6 (context singulare tantum legal English) The tort whose action is such an act. 7 (context fencing English) A non-competitive combat between two fencers. vb. To attack, threaten or harass.

1. n. close fighting during the culmination of a military attack

2. a threatened or attempted physical attack by someone who appears to be able to cause bodily harm if not stopped

3. thoroughbred that won the triple crown in 1946

4. the crime of forcing a woman to submit to sexual intercourse against her will [syn: rape, violation, ravishment]

1. v. attack someone physically or emotionally; "The mugger assaulted the woman"; "Nightmares assailed him regularly" [syn: assail, set on, attack]

2. force (someone) to have sex against their will; "The woman was raped on her way home at night" [syn: rape, ravish, violate, dishonor, dishonour, outrage]

3. attack in speech or writing; "The editors of the left-leaning paper attacked the new House Speaker" [syn: attack, round, assail, lash out, snipe]

In common law, assault is the tort of acting intentionally, that is with either general or specific intent, causing the reasonable apprehension of an immediate harmful or offensive contact. Because assault requires intent, it is considered an intentional tort, as opposed to a tort of negligence. Actual ability to carry out the apprehended contact is not necessary. In Criminal Law an assault is defined as an attempt to commit battery, requiring the specific intent to cause physical injury.

Assault (March 26, 1943 – September 2, 1971)

"Grave Matters Farm Index North America" (horse graves),
Thoroughbred Heritage, 2005, webpage:
TB-Graves.

was an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse who won the U.S. Triple Crown in 1946.

Assault can refer to:

Assault is a shoot 'em up video game released in 1983, in the United States, by Onbase for the Atari 2600.

Assault is a 1971 British thriller film directed by Sidney Hayers and starring Suzy Kendall, Frank Finlay and Freddie Jones, with Lesley-Anne Down making an early screen appearance; David Essex also has a small role. It is based on the novel The Ravine by Kendal Young, and tells about a police attempt to track down a dangerous rapist/killer on the loose. In the U.S., it was retitled In the Devil's Garden.

In criminal and civil law, assault is an attempt to initiate harmful or offensive contact with a person, or a threat to do so. It is distinct from battery, which refers to the actual achievement of such contact.

An assault is carried out by a threat of bodily harm coupled with an apparent, present ability to cause the harm. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in either criminal and/or civil liability. Generally, the common law definition is the same in criminal and tort law. There is, however, an additional criminal law category of assault consisting of an attempted but unsuccessful battery. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more limited sense of a threat of violence caused by an immediate show of force. Assault in many US jurisdictions and Scotland is defined more broadly still as any intentional physical contact with another person without their consent; but in England and Wales and in most other common law jurisdictions in the world, this is defined instead as battery. Some jurisdictions have incorporated the definition of civil assault into the definition of the crime making it a criminal assault intentionally to cause another person to apprehend a harmful or offensive contact.

is a multi-directional shooter arcade game released by Namco in 1988 and licensed to Atari Games for US manufacture and distribution. It is the last Namco game that was licensed to Atari, even though their logo still appears on the Mejā Stadium scoreboard in World Stadium '89 Kaimakuban and '90.

What makes Assault unique is that the player's tank always points toward the top of the screen, and when the tank turns the entire playfield rotates around the tank. It can be interpreted as rotating the world rather than the tank. Assault made early use of hardware sprite scaling (preceded by at least Sega's Space Harrier in 1985) and may be the first game to use hardware rotation of sprites and the background.