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onfall

noun, verb — 5 senses

onfall

noun

Etymology From Middle English onfal, onfalle, equivalent to on- + fall. Cognate with Dutch aanval (“an attack, assault”), German Anfall (“an attack, seizure, fit”), Swedish anfall (“an attack, offensive, assault”). Compare also Middle English onfallynge (“an onslaught, attack”).

1

A falling on or upon; an attack, onset, or assault.

  • Are we to have military onfall; and death also by starvation?1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, (please specify the book or page number):
  • The onfall of the bishops had helped to wreck this possibility, [...]1906, William Henry Fitchett, Wesley and his century: a study in spiritual forces:
2 more examples
  • Along with your 'brethren, Get ready your scaling ladders, And your engines of onfall and assault, To attack the walls of Khung.2004, James Legge, The Shih King:
  • Six great land battles I count, with four upon the sea, and seven-and-fifty onfalls, skirmishes and bushments.2008, Arthur Conan Doyle, The White Company:
2

A fall of rain or snow.

3

The fall of the evening.

onfall

verb

Etymology From Middle English onfal, onfalle, equivalent to on- + fall. Cognate with Dutch aanval (“an attack, assault”), German Anfall (“an attack, seizure, fit”), Swedish anfall (“an attack, offensive, assault”). Compare also Middle English onfallynge (“an onslaught, attack”).

1

To fall on or upon.

  • [...] have been formed and ripened in large numbers, especially on the shaded ower sides of the leaves, the mycelium is practically exhausted, and as these processes are completed towards the end of the summer, the leaf so onfalls.1889, Harry Marshall Ward, Diseases of plants:
  • 'the temple caught fire from the onfallen lightning' [...]1992, Edgar C. Polomé, Werner Winter, Reconstructing languages and cultures:
1 more example
  • Quasivertical and quasihorizontal faults filled with crushed rocks can substantially change the amplitude of a seismic wave behind the fault in comparison with the amplitude of an onfalling wave [...]2008, V. V. Adushkin, Ivan Nemchinov, Catastrophic events caused by cosmic objects:
2

To assault, attack.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.