sortie

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“
Another sortie was attempted; but there was a dense fog, the usual accompaniment of a January thaw, and its only result was the loss of some very valuable lives Then General Trochu asked for an armistice of two days to bury the dead; but his real object was that Jules Favre might enter the Prussian lines and endeavor to negotiate.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun An armed attack, especially one made from a place surrounded by enemy forces.
  2. noun A flight of a combat aircraft on a mission.
  3. intransitive verb To go on a sortie.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • It was determined that five was the optimum number of planes for a sortie, and the pilot skill of the time dictated that three suiciders with two escorts was the best ratio. —  The Divine Wind
  • By this time, the object of the sortie was accomplished beyond my most sanguine expectations. —  The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876
  • Another sortie was attempted; but there was a dense fog, the usual accompaniment of a January thaw, and its only result was the loss of some very valuable lives Then General Trochu asked for an armistice of two days to bury the dead; but his real object was that Jules Favre might enter the Prussian lines and endeavor to negotiate. —  France in the Nineteenth Century
  • The ladies therefore separated to prepare for their sortie, after many recommendations from the aunts to be sure to hap [1] well; but, as if distrusting her powers in that way, they speedily equipped themselves, and repaired to her chamber, arrayed cap a' pie in the walking costume of Glenfern Castle. —  Marriage
  • Meanwhile a sortie from the American fort on their rear had a menacing success. —  Washington and His Comrades in Arms; a chronicle of the War of Independence
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French, from feminine past participle of sortir, to go out, from Old French.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from French sortie (= Spanish surtida = Portuguese sortida = Italian sortita), a going forth, issue, sally, from sortir (= Old Spanish surtir = Italian sortire), go out, come out, issue, sally, from Late Latin as if *surrectire, rise or rouse up, from Latin surgere, past participle surrectus, rise up: see surge, source.
 

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/ˈsɔrti/
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