volley

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: vol=ley

CIDE DICTIONARY

volley, n. [F. volée; flight, a volley, or discharge of several guns, fr. voler to fly, L. volare. See Volatile.].

•  A flight of missiles, as arrows, bullets, or the like; the simultaneous discharge of a number of small arms.  [1913 Webster]

  "Fiery darts in flaming volleys flew."  [1913 Webster]

  "Each volley tells that thousands cease to breathe."  [1913 Webster]
•  A burst or emission of many things at once; as, a volley of words.  B. Jonson.  [1913 Webster]

  "Rattling nonsense in full volleys breaks."  [1913 Webster]
•  A return of the ball before it touches the ground.  [1913 Webster]

Half volley. (a) (Tennis) A return of the ball immediately after is has touched the ground. (b) (Cricket) A sending of the ball so that after touching the ground it flies towards the top of the wicket. R. A. Proctor. -- On the volley, at random. [Obs.] “What we spake on the volley begins work.” Massinger. -- Volley gun, a gun with several barrels for firing a number of shots simultaneously; a kind of mitrailleuse.

volley, v. t. 

 To discharge with, or as with, a volley.  [1913 Webster]

volley, v. i. 

•  To be thrown out, or discharged, at once; to be discharged in a volley, or as if in a volley; to make a volley or volleys.  Tennyson.  [1913 Webster]
•  To return the ball before it touches the ground.  R. A. Proctor.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

volley, n. & v.
--n. (pl. -eys)
1 a the simultaneous discharge of a number of weapons. b the bullets etc. discharged in a volley.
2 (usu. foll. by of) a noisy emission of oaths etc. in quick succession.
3 Tennis the return of a ball in play before it touches the ground.
4 Football the kicking of a ball in play before it touches the ground.
5 Cricket a a ball pitched right up to the batsman or the stumps without bouncing. b the pitching of the ball in this way.
--v. (-eys, -eyed)
1 tr. (also absol.) Tennis & Football return or send (a ball) by a volley.
2 tr. & absol. discharge (bullets, abuse, etc.) in a volley.
3 intr. (of bullets etc.) fly in a volley.
4 intr. (of guns etc.) sound together.
5 intr. make a sound like a volley of artillery.

Derivative

volleyer n.

Etymology

F vol{eacute}e ult. f. L volare fly

THESAURUS

volley

antiaircraft barrage, arrow, arrowhead, badinage, bang, bantering, barb, bark, barrage, blast, bobtailed arrow, bolt, bombardment, bowshot, box barrage, broadside, bullet, burst, cannon, cannonade, cannonry, chested arrow, cloth yard shaft, crack, creeping barrage, crossfire, dart, deluge, detonation, discharge, drumfire, ejection, emergency barrage, enfilade, exchange, explosion, flight, flood, fulmination, fusillade, give and take, gun, gunfire, gunshot, hail, interaction, inundation, mortar barrage, normal barrage, outbreak, outpouring, pop, potshot, quarrel, reciprocity, reed, salvo, shaft, shot, shower, spray, standing barrage, stoneshot, storm, tattoo, to-and-fro, torrent, volleying

ROGET THESAURUS

volley

Assemblage

N assemblage, collection, collocation, colligation, compilation, levy, gathering, ingathering, muster, attroupement, team, concourse, conflux, congregation, contesseration, convergence, meeting, levee, reunion, drawing room, at home, conversazione, assembly, congress, convention, conventicle, gemote, conclave, posse, posse comitatus, Noah's ark, miscellany, collectanea, museum, menagerie, museology, crowd, throng, group, flood, rush, deluge, rabble, mob, press, crush, cohue, horde, body, tribe, crew, gang, knot, squad, band, party, swarm, shoal, school, covey, flock, herd, drove, atajo, bunch, drive, force, mulada, remuda, roundup, array, bevy, galaxy, corps, company, troop, troupe, task force, army, regiment, host, populousness, clan, brotherhood, fraternity, sorority, association, volley, shower, storm, cloud, group, cluster, Pleiades, clump, pencil, set, batch, lot, pack, budget, assortment, bunch, parcel, packet, package, bundle, fascine, fasces, bale, seron, seroon, fagot, wisp, truss, tuft, shock, rick, fardel, stack, sheaf, haycock, fascicle, fascicule, fasciculus, gavel, hattock, stook, accumulation, congeries, heap, lump, pile, rouleau, tissue, mass, pyramid, bing, drift, snowball, snowdrift, acervation, cumulation, glomeration, agglomeration, conglobation, conglomeration, conglomerate, coacervate, coacervation, coagmentation, aggregation, concentration, congestion, omnium gaterum, spicilegium, black hole of Calcutta, quantity, collector, gatherer, whip, whipper in, assembled, closely packed, dense, serried, crowded to suffocation, teeming, swarming, populous, as thick as hops, all of a heap, fasciculated cumulative, the plot thickens, acervatim, tibi seris tibi metis.

Attack

N attack, assault, assault and battery, onset, onslaught, charge, aggression, offense, incursion, inroad, invasion, irruption, outbreak, estrapade, ruade, coupe de main, sally, sortie, camisade, raid, foray, run at, run against, dead set at, storm, storming, boarding, escalade, siege, investment, obsession, bombardment, cannonade, fire, volley, platoon fire, file fire, fusillade, sharpshooting, broadside, raking fire, cross fire, volley of grapeshot, whiff of the grape, feu d'enfer, cut, thrust, lunge, pass, passado, carte and tierce, home thrust, coupe de bec, kick, punch, battue, razzia, Jacquerie, dragonnade, devastation, eboulement, assailant, aggressor, invader, base of operations, point of attack, echelon, attacking, aggressive, offensive, obsidional, up in arms, on the offensive, Int, up and at them!, the din of arms, the yell of savage rage, the shriek of agony, the groan of death, their fatal hands no second stroke intend, thirst for glory quells the love of life.

Violence

N violence, inclemency, vehemence, might, impetuosity, boisterousness, effervescence, ebullition, turbulence, bluster, uproar, callithump, riot, row, rumpus, le diable a quatre, devil to pay, all the fat in the fire, severity, ferocity, rage, fury, exacerbation, exasperation, malignity, fit, paroxysm, orgasm, climax, aphrodisia, force, brute force, outrage, coup de main, strain, shock, shog, spasm, convulsion, throe, hysterics, passion, outbreak, outburst, debacle, burst, bounce, dissilience, discharge, volley, explosion, blow up, blast, detonation, rush, eruption, displosion, torrent, turmoil, ferment, storm, tempest, rough weather, squall, earthquake, volcano, thunderstorm, berserk, berserker, fury, dragon, demon, tiger, beldame, Tisiphone, Megaera, Alecto, madcap, wild beast, fire eater, violent, vehement, warm, acute, sharp, rough, rude, ungentle, bluff, boisterous, wild, brusque, abrupt, waspish, impetuous, rampant, turbulent, disorderly, blustering, raging, troublous, riotous, tumultuary, tumultuous, obstreperous, uproarious, extravagant, unmitigated, ravening, inextinguishable, tameless, frenzied, desperate, infuriate, furious, outrageous, frantic, hysteric, in hysterics, fiery, flaming, scorching, hot, red-hot, ebullient, savage, fierce, ferocious, fierce as a tiger, excited, unquelled, unquenched, unextinguished, unrepressed, unbridled, unruly, headstrong, ungovernable, unappeasable, immitigable, unmitigable, uncontrollable, incontrollable, insuppressible, irrepressible, orgastic, orgasmatic, orgasmic, spasmodic, convulsive, explosive, detonating, volcanic, meteoric, stormy, violently, amain, by storm, by force, by main force, with might and main, tooth and nail, vi et armis, at the point of the sword, at the point of the bayonet, at one fell swoop, with a high hand, through thick and thin, in desperation, with a vengeance, a outrance, a toute outrance, headlong, head foremost, furor arma ministrat, blown with restless violence round about the pende.

Snap

N snap, rapping, decrepitation, crepitation, report, thud, burst, explosion, blast, boom, discharge, detonation, firing, salvo, volley, squib, cracker, firecracker, cherry bomb, M, gun, cap, cap gun, popgun, implosion, bomb burst, atomic explosion, nuclear explosion (arms), gunpowder, dynamite, gun cotton, nitroglycerine, nitrocellulose, plastic explosive, plastique, TNT, cordite, trinitrotoluene, picric acid, picrates, mercury fulminate (arms), whack, wham, pow, rapping, Int, kaboom!, whamo!, Heewhack!, pow!.