strafe

[streyf, strahf]

verb (used with object)

strafed, strafing 

1. to attack (ground troops or installations) by airplanes with machine-gun fire.

2. Slang.,  to reprimand viciously.

verb (used without object)

strafed, strafing 

1. (of a player character in a video game) to move sideways while keeping a target in view, rather than turning the body to face the character’s destination in a regular forward movement.

noun

1. a strafing attack.

strafe

/ strɑːf, streɪf /

verb

1. to machine-gun (troops, etc) from the air

2. slang,  to punish harshly

noun

1. an act or instance of strafing

Other Word Forms

• strafer noun
• unstrafed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of strafe¹

First recorded in 1910–15; from German strafen “to punish”

Word History and Origins

Origin of strafe¹

C20: from German strafen to punish

Example Sentences

Watching Lyonne’s heroine tap dance away from strafing fire gets old pretty fast, but at least Johnson and his writers realize that.

Read more on Salon

The rain blew harder, strafing the windows, and as brother and sister talked, at times teasing one another, they suggested they were learning that life comes in increments of loss and renewal.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He recalled being on the road with the 6th Armored Division, part of a push to retake the French port city of Brest, when his column was strafed by five German planes.

Read more on Seattle Times

Long-range artillery, rapid-fire machine guns, poison gas, flamethrowers, tanks, and airplanes that bombed and strafed introduced new kinds of terror and record levels of suffering and death.

Read more on Literature

The first, on Aug. 12, 2026, will start above Greenland, then strafe the west coast of Iceland and move along the Atlantic Ocean and over Spain.

Read more on New York Times

Related Words

• assault 
• blockade 
• bomb 
• bombard 
• harass 
• invade 
• loot 
• overrun 
• plunder 
• ransack 
• rob 
• storm 
• swoop