Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A violent attack.
  • noun An overwhelming outpouring.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Attack; onset; aggression; assault; an inroad; an incursion; a bloody attack.
  • noun Synonyms Assault, etc. See onset.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An attack; an onset; esp., a furious or murderous attack or assault.
  • noun Scot. A bloody fray or battle.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A fierce attack.
  • noun A large quantity of people or things resembling an attack.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the rapid and continuous delivery of linguistic communication (spoken or written)
  • noun (military) an offensive against an enemy (using weapons)
  • noun a sudden and severe onset of trouble

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration (influenced by obsolete slaughte, slaughter) of Dutch aanslag, a striking at, from Middle Dutch aenslach : aen-, on; see an- in Indo-European roots + slach, a striking.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From anslaight (compare Dutch aanslag and German Anschlag), equivalent to on- +‎ slaught.

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