rafale

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French rafale. [usage 1]

Noun

rafale (plural rafales)

  1. (military) A short, intense burst of artillery fire from a number of weapons fired with the intention of overwhelming resistance or routing an attacking force.
    • Captain Andrew Hero Jr.
      […] a salvo is […] a succession of shots […] with the same elevation... a single shot for each piece. By a "rafale" is meant all the shots of a battery fired with the same elevation, without any determined order, at the rate of more than one shot per gun. According to circumstances, three different kinds of fire are employed ... first, progressive fire; second, fire with a single elevation; third, fire by salvos or by "rafales"...[1]

Usage notes
  1. In the military context the term may well be obsolete in English; it had been been introduced into French military usage by General Hippolyte Langlois in the late nineteenth century, and adopted into English and American usage not long after, but the usage seems to have petered out in English by the end of World War I

References
  1. Andrew Hero Jr. Captain, Artillery Corps. French Rapid-Fire Field Artillery. Antiaircraft Journal v. 20 1903 p47 Opening & Conduct of Fire.

Anagrams

French

Etymology

Origin uncertain. Possibly related to Italian raffica influenced by affaler.[1]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ʁa.fal/

Noun

rafale f (plural rafales)

  1. (meteorology) gust (strong, abrupt rush of wind)
    Synonym: bourrasque
  2. (meteorology) sudden shower, flurry
  3. (by extension, military) burst (series of shots fired from an automatic firearm)

Derived terms

Further reading

References
  1. “rafale” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

Norman

Etymology

Noun

rafale f (plural rafales)

  1. (Jersey) gust (of wind)
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