Jump to content

assailen

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Middle English

[edit]

Alternative forms

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From Old French assaillir, assalir, from Late Latin assalīre; equivalent to assaile +‎ -en (infinitival suffix).

Pronunciation

[edit]
  • IPA(key): /aˈsæi̯lən/, /ˈsæi̯lən/

Verb

[edit]

assailen

  1. 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.
  2. To begin or launch an assault or military operation.
  3. To bother, hurt, or injure (used often of malign forces)
  4. To affect; to induce towards (used of feelings)
  5. To lure or draw into sin, perfidy, or iniquity.
  6. To insult; to launch into a tirade or rant against.
  7. To try or undertake (an endeavour or behaviour)
  8. (rare) To become (dead or slumbering)
  9. (rare) To have intercourse; to mate (used of animals).
  10. (rare) To assay; to investigate something.
  11. (rare) To plead; to beseech.

Conjugation

[edit]
Conjugation of assailen (weak in -ed)
infinitive (to) assailen, assaile
present tense past tense
1st-person singular assaile assailed
2nd-person singular assailest assailedest
3rd-person singular assaileth assailed
subjunctive singular assaile
imperative singular
plural1 assailen, assaile assaileden, assailede
imperative plural assaileth, assaile
participles assailynge, assailende assailed, yassailed

1 Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

[edit]

Descendants

[edit]
  • English: assail
  • Scots: assail, assailzie

References

[edit]