Word: sortie Part of Speech: noun Etymology: PIE word *upó The noun is borrowed from French sortie (“act of exiting; exit, way out; (military) sally, sortie”), the feminine past participle of sortir (“to exit, go out”), from Old French sortir, from Latin sortīrī, the present active infinitive of sortior (“to cast or draw lots; to choose, select; to distribute, divide; to obtain, receive; to share”), from sors (“something used to determine chances, a lot; casting or drawing of lots; decision by lot; a share”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind, tie together; a thread”)), possibly influenced by surrēctus (“arisen, having been caused to arise; gotten up, having been gotten up”), the perfect passive participle of surgō (“to arise, get up, rise”), from subrigō (“to lift up; to straighten”), from sub- (prefix meaning ‘beneath, under’) + regō (“to direct, guide, steer; to govern, rule; to manage, oversee”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to right oneself, straighten; just; right”)). The verb is derived from the noun. Pronunciation: /ˈsɔːti/, /ˈsɔɹti/, [-ɾi] 1. An attack made by troops from a besieged position; a sally. Labels: also, attributive, figuratively Example: The events of these sieges show that a bold and vigorous sortie in force might carry destruction through every part of a besieger's approaches, where the guard is injudiciously disposed and ill commanded; but that if due precautions have been observed in forming the approaches and posting the defenders, any sortie from a besieged place must be checked with loss in their advance, when the approaches are still distant; or when the approaches are near, should a sortie succeed in pushing into them by a sudden rush, the assailants must inevitably be driven out again in a moment, with terrible slaughter. 2. An operational flight carried out by a single military aircraft. Labels: also, attributive, figuratively Example: Their aircraft had no belly gunners and were at the mercy of Luftwaffe fighters that attacked from below. Whenever they lifted off on a mission, they departed with the knowledge that this sortie could easily be their last. Example: They are vastly outnumbered: Russia is believed to fly some 200 sorties per day while Ukraine flies five to 10. 3. An act of venturing out to do a task, etc. Labels: broadly Example: ‘I'm just not interested in the whole class crap that seems to needle you and all the tax-payers,’ the teenager tells some ‘pre-historic monster’ of an adult, with a ‘cool’ snobbishness which MacInnes's companion on many of his Notting Hill sorties, the late Professor Richard Wollheim, compared to the ‘Sang Froid’ of Baudelaire's Dandy as he cruised through Fin-de-Siecle Paris with a similar sensibility, or lack of it. Example: Finally, the astronauts will descend to the lunar surface. After their sortie on the moon, they'll return to the orbital station. 4. An act of trying to enter a new field of activity. Labels: broadly, figuratively 5. An attacking move. Labels: broadly, figuratively Example: Kai Johansen made a sortie down the right and, running out of ideas, tried a shot from more than 20 yards. 6. An operational flight carried out by a spacecraft involving a return to Earth. Labels: broadly 7. Synonym of sally port (“an entry to or opening into a fortification to enable a sally”). Labels: broadly Example: [I]t was all encompassed by the palisades and breastworks, to which were but three sorties, whence the defenders might sally, or through which at need the vanguard might secure a retreat. 8. A series of aerial photographs taken during the flight of an aircraft; (by extension) a photography session. Labels: broadly