assault

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
assault/əˈsɔːlt/

▶noun

• 1 a violent attack.

  ■ Law an act that threatens physical harm to a person, whether or not actual harm is done.

• 2 a concerted attempt to do something demanding.

▶verb make an assault on.

– derivatives
assaulter noun,
assaultive adjective.

– origin ME: from OFr. asaut (n.), assauter (v.), based on L. ad- ‘to’ + saltare, from salire ‘to leap’.