VOLLEY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Volley

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/vˈɑli/ Listen

noun

Volley n. (pl. volleys)

1.

A flight of missiles, as arrows, bullets, or the like; the simultaneous discharge of a number of small arms. "Fiery darts in flaming volleys flew." "Each volley tells that thousands cease to breathe."

2.

A burst or emission of many things at once; as, a volley of words. "This volley of oaths." "Rattling nonsense in full volleys breaks."

3.

(a)

(Tennis) A return of the ball before it touches the ground.

(b)

(Cricket) A sending of the ball full to the top of the wicket.

Half volley.

(a)

(Tennis) A return of the ball immediately after is has touched the ground.

(b)

(Cricket) A sending of the ball so that after touching the ground it flies towards the top of the wicket.

On the volley, at random. (Obs.) "What we spake on the volley begins work."

Volley gun, a gun with several barrels for firing a number of shots simultaneously; a kind of mitrailleuse.

verb

Volley v. t. (past & past part. volleyed; pres. part. volleying) To discharge with, or as with, a volley.

Volley v. i.

1.

To be thrown out, or discharged, at once; to be discharged in a volley, or as if in a volley; to make a volley or volleys.

2.

(a)

(Tennis) To return the ball before it touches the ground.

(b)

(Cricket) To send the ball full to the top of the wicket.

See images of 'Volley'

Etymology of 'Volley'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Volley" Quotes from Famous Books

... of the enemy from the sound and direction of his fire. However, had it not been for this dense jungle, the attack would not have been made against an overwhelming force in such a position. Headway was so difficult that advance and support became merged and moved forward under a continuous volley firing, supplemented by that of two rapid-fire guns. Return firing by my force was only made as here and there a small clear spot gave a sight of the enemy. The fire discipline of these particular ...

— The Colored Regulars in the United States Army • T. G. Steward

... antimacassars droop from plush sofas, yellowing diplomas display their seals on office walls. It was all so still and familiar that it seemed as if the people for whom these things had a meaning might at any moment come back and take up their daily business. And then—crash! the guns began, slamming out volley after volley all along the English lines, and the poor frail web of things that had made up the lives of a vanished city-full hung dangling before us in ...

— Fighting France - From Dunkerque to Belport • Edith Wharton

... at the drunken brute as he prepared for a second blow, but some of the other laborers had already torn his weapon out of his hand, and, as if in answer to this base murder, the troops discharged a fresh volley only a hundred yards away, which was again received with shots ...

— Banzai! • Ferdinand Heinrich Grautoff

... sprigs of parsley with which he garnished the feast of small talk that he would set before you if he conceived that to be your taste. And again he used them as breastworks in foraging at the boardinghouse. Firing at you a volley of figures concerning the weight of a lineal foot of bar-iron 5 x 2 3/4 inches, and the average annual rainfall at Fort Snelling, Minn., he would transfix with his fork the best piece of chicken on the dish while you were trying to rally sufficiently to ask him weakly why ...

— Strictly Business • O. Henry

... this fellow," he said, in a tone of contempt, pointing to Stephano, "until we reach the pavilion; if he makes one movement shoot him, and when a volley announces to you that we are not deceived, join us ...

— The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue 27, March 1893 - An Illustrated Monthly • Various

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