Assail \As*sail"\ ([a^]s*s[=a]l"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Assailed} (-s[=a]ld"); p. pr. & vb. n. {Assailing}.] [OE. assailen, asailen, OF. asaillir, assailler, F. assaillir; a (L. ad) + saillir to burst out, project, fr. L. salire to leap, spring; cf. L. assilire to leap or spring upon. See {Sally}.] 1. To 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.
2. To encounter or meet purposely with the view of mastering, as an obstacle, difficulty, or the like.
The thorny wilds the woodmen fierce assail. --Pope.
3. To attack morally, or with a view to produce changes in the feelings, character, conduct, existing usages, institutions; to attack by words, hostile influence, etc.; as, to assail one with appeals, arguments, abuse, ridicule, and the like.
The papal authority . . . assailed. --Hallam.
They assailed him with keen invective; they assailed him with still keener irony. --Macaulay.
Syn: To attack; assault; invade; encounter; fall upon. See {Attack}.
The official media of Romania's allies in the East bloc's Warsaw Pact frequently assail Ceausescu's economic austerity at home, contending that the privation it has imposes upon the nation's 23 million people is excessive.
But groups for the blind and disabled assail the rules as arbitrary.
Although we do not see the cradle, the umbilical rope and the intense pattern of lush blooms almost assail the eye with their forceful and rhythmic message of motherhood and fertility.
And I don't assail him on that issue or others on that issue.