Other forms: assaulted, assaults, assaulting
Assault is the crime of physically attacking somebody. Charged with assault, an assault on a police officer, common assault.
It is a precise legal term whose definition varies between countries — in English law assault and battery are technically different offences, though everyday speech merges them. Sexual assault is a separate and specific charge. The word also means a military attack on a position — an assault on the ridge — and figuratively any sustained attack: an assault on civil liberties. Note assault course, the British name for an obstacle course, and assault rifle.
1nounassaultThe crime of physically attacking somebody.
“He was charged with assault and pleaded guilty.”
2nounmilitaryA military attack on a position.
“The assault began before dawn.”
3verbphysicallyTo attack somebody physically.
“Two men assaulted him outside the station.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
assault is an attack.
Latin assilire is ad-, at, plus salire, to leap — to leap at. The same salire gives salient, somersault and salmon, the leaping fish. An assault is a leap at somebody, which is close to what the crime describes.
Proto-Indo-European
*sel-
Latin
assalio
Middle English
assaut
English, today
assault
Built from
From Middle English assaut, from Old French - noun assaut, derived from the past participle of the verb assalir, from Latin assalio, from Latin ad (“at, towards”) + saliō (“jump”). See also assail. Spelling Latinized around 1530 to add an l.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA