Word: attack Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Italian a- Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- Proto-Italic *dis- Latin dis- Old French des- Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- Proto-Germanic *stikaną Proto-West Germanic *stekander. Old French atachier Old French destachier Middle French destacherbor. Italian distaccare Italian staccare Italian attaccarebor. French attaquerdeverb. French attaquebor. English attack Borrowed from French attaque, derived from the verb attaquer, from Italian attaccare (“to join, attach”) (used in attaccare battaglia (“to join battle”)), from Frankish *stakkijan (“to stick, stick to, attach”). Doublet of attach. Displaced native Middle English onresen, from Old English onrǣsan (“to attack”); and Middle English resinge (“an assault, attack”) (compare Old English onrǣs (“an attack”)). Pronunciation: /əˈtæk/, /əˈtak/, /əˈtɛk/ 1. An attempt to cause damage, injury to, or death of an opponent or enemy. Example: From 1906 to 1960, there were forty-six recorded shark attacks, half of which were fatal. Example: One particularly damaging, but often ignored, effect of conflict on education is the proliferation of attacks on schools[…]as children, teachers or school buildings become the targets of attacks. Parents fear sending their children to school. Girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence. 2. An attempt to cause damage, injury to, or death of an opponent or enemy. Example: Combat in Mimesis Online is nice and simple. You click on your target […] and then keep right-clicking your chosen attack from the drop down menu. Every time you right click on the attack, your character will swing, shoot, etc. Example: Kleavor has several attacks that it's worth roughly memorising: a charge attack, where it runs at you quickly; a jump attack, that causes a pillar of rock to spike out from under the ground; and a spin attack that does damage in a circle around it. 3. An attempt to detract from the worth or credibility of, a person, position, idea, object, or thing, by physical, verbal, emotional, or other assault. Example: “I came down like a wolf on the fold, didn’t I ? Why didn’t I telephone ? Strategy, my dear boy, strategy. This is a surprise attack, and I’d no wish that the garrison, forewarned, should escape. …” Example: They claimed the censorship of the article was an attack on free speech. 4. A time in which one attacks; the offence of a battle. Example: The army timed their attack to coincide with the local celebrations. 5. The beginning of active operations on anything. Labels: broadly, informal Example: Having washed the plates from dinner, I made an attack on the laundry. 6. An attempt to exploit a vulnerability in a computer system. Example: birthday attack; denial-of-service attack 7. Collectively, the bowlers of a cricket side. 8. Any contact with the ball other than a serve or block which sends the ball across the plane of the net. 9. The three attackmen on the field or all the attackmen of a team. 10. The sudden onset of a disease or condition. Example: I've had an attack of the flu. 11. An active episode of a chronic or recurrent disease. 12. The onset of a musical note, particularly with respect to the strength (and duration) of that onset. Example: Eric Reed was a curious choice as pianist, since his busy Petersonian attack is the antithesis of Lewis's, but he acquitted himself with panache, […] 13. The amount of time taken for the volume of an audio signal to go from zero to maximum level (e.g. an audio waveform representing a snare drum hit would feature a very fast attack, whereas that of a wave washing to shore would feature a slow attack). 14. The initial sensory impact of a wine. 15. Short for heart attack. Labels: India, South, abbreviation, alt-of