fusillade
[fyoo-suh-leyd, -lahd, -zuh-]
- a simultaneous or continuous discharge of firearms.
- a general discharge or outpouring of anything: a fusillade of questions.
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- to attack or shoot by a fusillade.
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Origin of fusillade
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for fusillade
Contemporary Examples
They can expect a fusillade of incoming from Gillibrand and her colleagues.
Historical Examples
He followed with a fusillade of questions in strange and varying tongues.
But he had scarcely turned his head when a fusillade burst out.
The Fortune of the RougonsEmile Zola
But the fusillade had begun afresh, this time on the left, in the olive plantations.
The Fortune of the RougonsEmile Zola
They, too, fled before the fusillade and the hail of shot that descended on them.
The Historical Nights' EntertainmentRafael Sabatini
A fusillade of shots and a babel of yelling from outside interrupted his words.
The Mountain DivideFrank H. Spearman
fusillade
- a simultaneous or rapid continual discharge of firearms
- a sudden outburst, as of criticism
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- (tr) to attack with a fusillade
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Word Origin
C19: from French, from fusiller to shoot; see fusil 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for fusillade
n.
"simultaneous discharge of firearms," 1801, from French fusillade, from fusiller "to shoot," from fusil "musket" (see fusilier). As a verb from 1816.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper