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A rushing or setting upon; an attack; an assault; a storming; especially, the assault of an army. Milton. The onset and retire Of both your armies. Shak. Who on that day the word of onset gave. Wordsworth.

An attack; an onset; esp., a furious or murderous attack or assault. By storm and onslaught to proceed. Hudibras.

Stormy. [R.]

An instrument to avert the occurrence of hailstorms. See Paragr. Knight.

in a vineyard, for drawing off the electricity in the atmosphere in order to prevent hailstorms. [France] Knight.

an oral conference with an enemy, as with regard to a truce. We yield on parley, but are stormed in vain. Dryden. To beat a parley (Mil.), to beat a drum, or sound a trumpet, as a signal for holding a conference with the enemy.

heir native music by her skillful art. Spenser. Whose tender power Passes the strength of storms in their most desolate hour. Byron.

s moved; route; passage; an established way; as, the path of a meteor, of a caravan, of a storm, of a pestilence. Also used figuratively, of a course of life or action. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth. Ps. xxv. 10. The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Gray.

Made of, or like, pellets; furnished with pellets. [R.] "This pelleted storm." Shak.

fee allowed by law to an officer for a specific service. The pillage of a place taken by storm was regarded as the perquisite of the soldiers. Prescott. The best perquisites of a place are the advantages it gaves a man of doing good. Addison.

A place where ships may ride secure from storms; a sheltered inlet, bay, or cove; a harbor; a haven. Used also figuratively.

; to bode; -- now used esp. of unpropitious signs. Bacon. Many signs portended a dark and stormy day. Macaulay.

h; a forerunner; a harbinger. Evil thoughts are the invisible, airy precursors of all the storms and tempests of the soul. Buckminster.

rior; as, previous arrangements; a previous illness. The dull sound . . . previous to the storm, Rolls o'er the muttering earth. Thomson. Previous question. (Parliamentary Practice) See under Question, and compare Closure. -- Previous to, before; -- often used adverbially for previously. "Previous to publication." M.…

ncluding the petrels, fulmars, and shearwaters. They are often seen in great abundance in stormy weather.

Stormy. [Obs.] Bailey.

stir up; to incite to tumult, struggle, or war; to excite. He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind. Ps. cvii. 25. Æneas . . . employs his pains, In parts remote, to raise the Tuscan swains. Dryden.

To rant; to storm. [Obs.] I wept, . . . and raved, randed, and railed. J. Webster.

Turned upside down; greatly disturbed. [Obs.] He found the sea diverse With many a windy storm reverse. Gower.

on a halyard when hoisting a sail. -- To ride out (Naut.), to keep safe afloat during (a storm) while riding at anchor or when hove to on the open sea; as, to ride out the gale. to ride the lightning, (Colloq.) to be executed by electrocution in an electric chair.