onfall
A falling on or upon; an attack, onset, or assault.
Noun
- A falling on or upon; an attack, onset, or assault.
- Are we to have military onfall; and death also by starvation? - 1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, (please specify the...
- The onfall of the bishops had helped to wreck this possibility, [...] - 1906, William Henry Fitchett, Wesley and his century: a study in spiritual forces:
- Along with your 'brethren, Get ready your scaling ladders, And your engines of onfall and assault, To attack the walls of Khung. - 2004, James Legge, The Shih King:
- A fall of rain or snow.
- The fall of the evening.
Origin
From Middle English onfal, onfalle, equivalent to on- + fall. Cognate with Dutch aanval (“an attack, assault”), German Anfall (“an attack, seizure, fit”), Swedish anfall (“an attack, offensive, assault”). Compare also Middle English onfallynge (“an onslaught, attack”).
Forms
Verb
- To fall on or upon.
- [...] have been formed and ripened in large numbers, especially on the shaded ower sides of the leaves, the mycelium is practically exhausted, and as these processes are completed towards the end of the summer, the leaf...
- 'the temple caught fire from the onfallen lightning' [...] - 1992, Edgar C. Polomé, Werner Winter, Reconstructing languages and cultures:
- Quasivertical and quasihorizontal faults filled with crushed rocks can substantially change the amplitude of a seismic wave behind the fault in comparison with the amplitude of an onfalling wave [...] - 2008, V. V....
- To assault, attack.