onfall – English noun declension

English noun forms of onfall

Noun: onfall
Singularonfall
Pluralonfalls

Sample Sentences

  • Are we to have military onfall; and death also by starvation? [1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, (please specify the book or page number):]
  • The onfall of the bishops had helped to wreck this possibility, [...] [1906, William Henry Fitchett, Wesley and his century: a study in spiritual forces:]
  • Along with your 'brethren, Get ready your scaling ladders, And your engines of onfall and assault, To attack the walls of Khung. [2004, James Legge, The Shih King:]
  • Six great land battles I count, with four upon the sea, and seven-and-fifty onfalls, skirmishes and bushments. [2008, Arthur Conan Doyle, The White Company:]

Etymology

From Middle English onfal, onfalle, equivalent to on- + fall. Cognate with Dutch aanval (“an attack, assault”), German Anfall (“an attack, seizure, fit”), Swedish anfall (“an attack, offensive, assault”). Compare also Middle English onfallynge (“an onslaught, attack”). See: Middle English Nouns 'onfal', Dutch Nouns 'aanval', German Nouns 'Anfall', Swedish Nouns 'anfall', Middle English Nouns 'onfallynge'.