strafe

American  

[streyf, strahf] / streɪf, strɑf /

verb (used with object)

strafed, strafing

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

2. Slang. to reprimand viciously.

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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 British  

/ strɑːf, streɪf /

verb

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

2. slang to punish harshly

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noun

1. an act or instance of strafing

Other Word Forms

• strafer noun
• unstrafed adjective

Etymology

Origin of strafe

First recorded in 1910–15; 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.

From 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.

From Los Angeles Times

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.

From New York Times

He would often try to drive me away, come strafing and threatening, and an alarming thing about that is their flight is completely silent.

From Salon

One researcher has been hiring planes to strafe the sky over the Amazon rain forest to collect the air coming off the trees, and what she is finding is cause for alarm.

From Scientific American

Related Words

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