ricochet

From French ricochet.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪkəʃeɪ/, /ˈɹɪkəʃɛt/
• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Hyphenation: ric‧o‧chet

ricochet (plural ricochets)

1. (military) A method of firing a projectile so that it skips along a surface.
2. An instance of ricocheting; a glancing rebound.

ricochet (third-person singular simple present ricochets, present participle ricocheting or ricochetting, simple past and past participle ricocheted or ricochetted)

1. To rebound off something wildly in a seemingly random direction.
   • 2018 June 24, Sam Wallace, "Harry Kane scores hat-trick as England hit Panama for six to secure World Cup knock-out qualification," Telegraph (UK) (retrieved 24 June 2018):

     Everything that could go right for England did although they never felt lucky and they chuckled at Kane’s third that ricocheted off his heel while he was looking the other way.

2. (military) To operate upon by ricochet firing.

Origin uncertain.

• The word first appears in the phrases chanson du/de riochet, fable du ricochet. This is apparently related to other story-titles such as the fable du rouge kokelet; other dialectal terms such as ripoton (“duckling”) and Norman recoquet (“chick”) has led to theories that the word originally indicated a "young cock". The sense-development is unclear.

• IPA^(key): /ʁikɔʃɛ/

ricochet m (plural ricochets)

1. rebound; ricochet

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