Also 7 attaque, attacque. [a. F. attaque-r, 16th c. ad. It. attaccare: see ATTACH. Not in Shaks., nor in Cotgr. under F. attaquer.] trans. in all senses.
1. To fasten or fall upon with force or arms; to join battle with, assail, assault. (The ordinary word to describe offensive military operations.)
1600. Holland, Livy, I. 3. Being attackt with war from the Sabines.
1660. Blount, Boscobel, I. (1680), 15. Lambert with a far greater number of Rebels attaqu’d him.
1684. Scanderbeg Rediv., v. 117. 2000 Janisaries … were sent out to Attacque a small Castle.
1776–88. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xliii. (1813), VII. 359. The strong towns he successively attacked.
1876. Green, Short Hist., i. § 5 (1882), 43. The Danes were the same people in blood and speech with the people they attacked.
b. absol.
a. 1755. Cane, Campaigns (J.). Those that attack generally get the victory, though with disadvantage of ground.
2. To set upon with hostile action or words, so as to overthrow, injure, or bring into disrepute.
1643. Milton, Sov. Salve, 32. Under colour of a pretended partie … the Parliament is attaqued.
1656. Cowley, Misc. (1669), 30. Some care bestow On us … Attacqu’ed by Enyy, and by Ignorance.
1678. Owen, Mind of God, i. 10. Religion was attacqued or disturbed withal.
1771. Junius Lett., lix. 309. Who attacks the liberty of the press?
1798. Ferriar, Illustr. Sterne, ii. 25. Rabelais attacked boldly the scholastic mode of education.
1858. De Quincey, Whiggism, Wks. VI. 173. He attacked the Archbishop of Dublin … in a rancorous tone.
3. To assail with temptations.
1673. Lady’s Call., I. i. § 20. Finding it their interest to corrupt him with money, they were yet so possest with the reverence of his vertues, that none durst undertake to attaque him. Ibid., I. v. § 23. There are few more frequently attaqued then women of quality.
4. To enter upon a work of difficulty, with the intention of conquering or completing it.
1871. Trans. Amer. Inst. Min. Engin., I. 201. Finding the ore, making all roads, shafts, drifts, etc., which will enable the miner to attack it.
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, xxi. 296. They will have to attack some hard work.
1875. Times, 20 April, 5/6. We have never been able to attack those parts of the Sun’s surroundings.
5. Of disease: To seize upon, begin to affect.
1677. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., 318. Diseases, Disorders, Weaknesses, Sicknesses, Harbingers and Forerunners of Death attaquing his Bodily Constitution.
1863. Kemble, Resid. Georgia, 40. Rheumatism … attacks indiscriminately the young and old.
6. Of physical agents: To begin to act upon destructively, to begin to destroy, devour, waste, decompose or dissolve.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXIV. 232/2. White ants … often attacking the wood-work of houses.
1871. B. Stewart, Heat, I. i. § 20. Hydrofluoric acid … attacks the glass where the wax has been scratched off.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 208. The columns, when attacked [by boring molluscs], must have been washed by the sea.
1879. P. Delamotte, in Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 89/1. The mordants used in the dyeing are apt to attack the leather.
