assailant

From Old French asaillant, from the verb asaillir (“to jump on”), from Latin assaliō, itself from ad (“to, towards”) + saliō (“to jump”).

• IPA^(key): /əˈseɪlənt/

assailant (plural assailants)

1. Someone who attacks or assails another violently, or criminally; an attacker.
   • 2018, Edo Konrad, "Living in the constant shadow of settler violence", +972 Magazine:

     In the village of Aqraba, the Sheikh Saadeh Mosque was set on fire before the assailants graffitied the words “price tag” and “revenge” on its walls.

2. (figuratively, by extension) A hostile critic or opponent.

assailant (not comparable)

1. Assailing; attacking.
   • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes, lines 1687 to 1696.

     But he though blind of sight, / Despis'd, and thought extinguish'd quite, / With inward eyes illuminated, / His fiery virtue roused / From under ashes into sudden flame, / And as an evening dragon came, / Assailant on the perched roosts / And nests in order ranged / Of tame villatic fowl, but as an eagle / His cloudless thunder bolted on their heads.

• Alsatians, alsatians