raid1
/reɪd
/noun
1A rapid surprise attack on an enemy by troops, aircraft, or other armed forces: a bombing raid...
- Both the Central Powers and the Allies used aircraft on strategic bombing raids, targeting enemy industries and to a lesser extent enemy civilians.
- Niven had volunteered for a secret military commando unit making raids on the enemy coastline.
- It is primarily employed in close air support of ground troops, target destruction raids, and armed escort of other aircraft.
Synonyms
surprise attack, hit-and-run raid, tip-and-run raid, assault, descent, blitz, incursion, foray, sortie;
sally, inroad, onslaught, onrush, storming, charge, thrust, offensive, invasion;
German blitzkrieg;
Italian razzia
1.1A rapid surprise attack to commit a crime, especially to steal from business premises: an early morning raid on a bank...
- The works were stolen in an early-morning raid on April 20, when the thieves broke into the Brücke-Museum.
- The trio inside were heading home to Leeds with their loot from a smash-and-grab raid on a York computer business.
- Hundreds of DVDs, CDs and PlayStation games were stolen in the biggest raid on a west Wiltshire library in 20 years, with police at a loss to explain how the burglars got in.
Synonyms
robbery, burglary, hold-up, break-in;
mugging, robbing, pillaging, looting, plunder, plundering, ransacking, sack, sacking, marauding
informal snatch, smash-and-grab
British informal blag
North American informal heist, stick-up
1.2A surprise visit by police to arrest suspects or seize illicit goods: a police raid on his home...
- An Algerian asylum seeker arrested in Bury during police raids on terrorist suspects has been jailed for six months for using a false passport.
- Lunchtime shoppers gazed in astonishment as police launched a full-scale raid on a suspected drug pusher operating from York city centre.
- A relative of one of the suspected bombers was arrested following police raids of six homes in Leeds, West Yorkshire, and two cars were seized.
Synonyms
swoop, surprise search
North American informal bust, takedown
1.3 Stock Market A hostile attempt to buy a major or controlling interest in the shares of a company.Certainly, the share raid was something to stick in the craw of Europe's biggest reseller and runaway market leader in the UK....
- News of the raid is expected to force Yukos shares, which have already lost half their value since April, lower again.
- The raids followed a series of complaints from investors in Australia, who were phoned by salespeople in Bangkok and invited to buy shares in Japan and Hong Kong.
verb [with object]
1Conduct a raid on: officers raided thirty homes yesterday...
- A gang of thieves raided Brickens Post Office at lunch time last Thursday afternoon.
- Police officers have raided homes in Bradford in a high-profile operation.
- This is the haul of drugs seized when 25 police officers raided a Highworth pub.
Synonyms
attack, make a raid on, assault, set upon, descend on, swoop on, harass, harry, blitz, make inroads on, assail, storm, rush, charge
plunder, steal from, pillage, loot, rifle, maraud, strip, ransack, sack
literary despoil
archaic reave, spoil
rare depredate, spoliate, forage
rob, steal from, hold up, break into, make a raid on
North American informal stick up
search, make a search of, swoop on, make a raid on
North American informal bust
1.1Quickly and illicitly take something from (a place): she crept downstairs to raid the larder...
- Those who don't have their own will raid the store room for tartan shirts to make into kilts.
- If they are not physically attacking them, they are raiding fields for food.
- Alternatively, please everyone and raid your room mini bar as you watch the Pattaya Mail Channel's latest features.
Origin
Late Middle English (as a noun): Scots variant of road in the early senses 'journey on horseback', 'foray'. The noun became rare from the end of the 16th century but was revived by Sir Walter Scott; the verb dates from the mid 19th century.
Rhymes
RAID2
/ˈreɪd/abbreviation Computing
Redundant array of independent (or inexpensive) disks, a system for providing greater capacity, faster access, and security against data corruption by spreading data across several disk drives.