Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - attack

 I. verb  Etymology: Middle French attaquer, from Old Italian *estaccare to attach, from stacca stake, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English staca  Date: 1562  transitive verb  1. to set upon or work against forcefully  2. to assail with unfriendly or bitter words a speech ~ing her political enemies  3. to begin to affect or to act on injuriously plants ~ed by aphids  4. to set to work on ~ a problem  5. to threaten (a piece in chess) with immediate capture  intransitive verb to make an ~  • ~er noun Synonyms:  ~, assail, assault, bombard, storm mean to make an onslaught upon. ~ implies taking the initiative in a struggle plan to ~ the town at dawn. assail implies attempting to break down resistance by repeated blows or shots assailed the enemy with artillery fire. assault suggests a direct attempt to overpower by suddenness and violence of onslaught commandos assaulted the building from all sides. bombard applies to ~ing with bombs or shells bombarded the city nightly. storm implies attempting to break into a defended position preparing to storm the fortress.  II. noun  Date: 1655  1. the act of ~ing with physical force or unfriendly words ; assault  2. a belligerent or antagonistic action  3.  a. a fit of sickness; especially an active episode of a chronic or recurrent disease  b. a period of being strongly affected by something (as a desire or mood)  4.  a. an offensive or scoring action won the game with an 8-hit ~  b. offensive players or the positions taken up by them  5. the setting to work on some undertaking made a new ~ on the problem  6. the beginning of destructive action (as by a chemical agent)  7. the act or manner of beginning a musical tone or phrase  III. adjective  Date: 1899 designed, planned, or used for carrying out a military ~ an ~ helicopter