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attack with violence, or in a vehement and hostile manner; to assault; to molest; as, to assail a man with blows; to assail a city with artillery. No rude noise mine ears assailing. Cowper. No storm can now assail The charm he wears within. Keble.

Capable of being assailed.

Assailing; attacking. Milton.

One who assails.

The act or power of assailing; attack; assault. [R.] His most frequent assailment was the headache. Johnson.

which such good wishes are expressed in drinking; a drinking bout; a carouse. "In merry wassail he . . . peals his loud song." Sir W. Scott. The king doth wake to-night and takes his rouse, Keeps wassail. Shak. The victors abandoned themselves to feasting and wassail. Prescott.

One who drinks wassail; one who engages in festivity, especially in drinking; a reveler. The rudeness and swilled insolence Of such late wassailers. Milton.

person who first attacks or makes an aggression; he who begins hostility or a quarrel; an assailant. The insolence of the aggressor is usually proportioned to the tameness of the sufferer. Ames.

metimes do under the influence of "bhang," and attack every one that comes in the way; to assail recklessly and indiscriminately. Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet To run amuck, and tilt at all I meet. Pope.

A fleet of armed ships; a squadron. Specifically, the Spanish fleet which was sent to assail England, a. d. 1558.

To assail with murderous intent; hence, by extended meaning, to maltreat exceedingly. [Archaic] Your rhymes assassinate our fame. Dryden. Such usage as your honorable lords Afford me, assassinated and betrayed. Milton.

iew of producing moral effects; to attack by words, arguments, or unfriendly measures; to assail; as, to assault a reputation or an administration. Before the gates, the cries of babes newborn, . . . Assault his ears. Dryden.

One who assaults, or violently attacks; an assailant. E. Hall.

To fall upon with force; to assail, as with force and arms; to assault. "Attack their lines." Dryden.

An assailant; also, a temper. [Obs.]

To assail in battle; to fight.

To pommel; to beat, as with a stick; figuratively, to assail or criticise in conversation, or in writing. Thackeray.

Blessed. "This patriarch blest." Milton. White these blest sounds my ravished ear assail. Trumbull.

ng no charge, or one that does not explode. -- Blind side, the side which is most easily assailed; a weak or unguarded side; the side on which one is least able or disposed to see danger. Swift. -- Blind snake (Zoöl.), a small, harmless, burrowing snake, of the family Typhlopidæ, with rudimentary eyes. -- Blind spot…

Cheery; gay; merry. The blithesome sounds of wassail gay. Sir W. Scott. -- Blithe"some*ly, adv. -- Blithe"some*ness, n.