assailen
Middle English
editAlternative forms
edit- assaillen, assaille, assaylle, asailen, assaile, assayle, saile, sayll, saylen, sailen, saillen, sayle, seællen, a-sayle
Etymology
editFrom Old French assaillir, assalir, from Late Latin assalīre; equivalent to assaile + -en (infinitival suffix).
Pronunciation
editVerb
editassailen
- To assail or assault; to loot or attack.
- c. 1390, John Wycliffe, transl., edited by Josiah Forshall and Frederic Madden, The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments, with the Apocryphal Books, in the Earliest English Versions (Wycliffe's Bible), volume II, Oxford UP, published 1850, I. Paralipomenon VII.21, page 334, column 2:
- Forsothe men of Geth borun in the lond killiden hem, for thei ȝeden doun to assaile her possessiouns.
- Forsooth, men of Gath born in the land killed him, for they went down to assail her possessions.
- To begin or launch an assault or military operation.
- To bother, hurt, or injure (used often of malign forces)
- To affect; to induce towards (used of feelings)
- To lure or draw into sin, perfidy, or iniquity.
- To insult; to launch into a tirade or rant against.
- To try or undertake (an endeavour or behaviour)
- (rare) To become (dead or slumbering)
- (rare) To have intercourse; to mate (used of animals).
- (rare) To assay; to investigate something.
- (rare) To plead; to beseech.
Conjugation
editConjugation of assailen (weak in -ed)
1Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.
Related terms
editDescendants
editReferences
edit- “assail(l)en, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-08-17.
- “sailen, v.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-08-17.
Categories:
- Middle English terms borrowed from Old French
- Middle English terms derived from Old French
- Middle English terms derived from Late Latin
- Middle English terms suffixed with -en (infinitival)
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English verbs
- Middle English terms with quotations
- Middle English terms with rare senses
- Middle English weak verbs
- enm:Death
- enm:Emotions
- enm:Sex
- enm:Talking
- enm:Violence
- enm:War