sally

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To rush out or leap forth suddenly.
2. v. To issue suddenly from a defensive or besieged position to attack an enemy.
3. v. To set out on a trip or excursion: sallied forth to see the world.
4. n. A sudden rush forward; a leap.
5. n. An assault from a defensive position; a sortie.
6. n. A sudden emergence into action or expression; an outburst.
7. n. A sudden quick witticism; a quip. See Synonyms at joke.
8. n. A venturing forth; a jaunt.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Same as sallow.
2. n. A leap or spring; a darting; a dance.
3. n. A sudden rush, dash, or springing forth; specifically, a sudden and determined rush or eruption of troops from a besieged place to attack the besiegers; a sortie: as, the garrison made a sally.
4. n. A run or excursion; a trip or jaunt; a going out in general.
5. n. In architecture, a projection; the end of a piece of timber cut with an interior angle formed by two planes across the fibers, as the feet of common rafters.
6. n. An outburst, as of imagination, fancy, merriment, etc.; a flight; hence, a freak, frolic, or escapade.
7. To leap; spring; dance.
8. To leap, dash, or spring forth; burst out; specifically, to make a sally, as a body of troops from a besieged place to attack the besiegers; hence, to set out briskly or energetically.
9. To mount; copulate with: said of horses.
10. n. The wren, Troglodytes parvulus.
11. n. A kind of stone-fly; one of the Perlidæ: as, the yellow sally, Chloroperla viridis, much used by anglers in England.
12. n. Also applied to several species of trees belonging to the genus Eucalyptus.
13. n. Acacia melanoxylon. See blackwood, 2.
14. n. Eucryphia Moorei. See plum, 7.
15. n. See salenixon.

Wiktionary

1. n. A willow
2. n. Any tree that looks like a willow
3. n. An object made from the above trees' wood
4. n. A sortie of troops from a besieged place against an enemy.
5. n. A sudden rushing forth.
6. n. figuratively A witty statement or quip, usually at the expense of one's interlocutor.
7. n. An excursion or side trip.
8. n. A tufted woollen part of a bellrope, used to provide grip when ringing a bell.
9. v. intransitive To make a sudden attack on an enemy from a defended position.
10. v. intransitive To set out on an excursion; venture; depart (often followed by "forth.")
11. v. intransitive To venture off the beaten path.
12. n. New Zealand, slang A member of the Salvation Army.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To leap or rush out; to burst forth; to issue suddenly; as a body of troops from a fortified place to attack besiegers; to make a sally.
2. n. A leaping forth; a darting; a spring.
3. n. A rushing or bursting forth; a quick issue; a sudden eruption; specifically, an issuing of troops from a place besieged to attack the besiegers; a sortie.
4. n. An excursion from the usual track; range; digression; deviation.
5. n. A flight of fancy, liveliness, wit, or the like; a flashing forth of a quick and active mind.
6. n. Transgression of the limits of soberness or steadiness; act of levity; wild gayety; frolic; escapade.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a venture off the beaten path
2. n. a military action in which besieged troops burst forth from their position
3. n. witty remark