cannonade
/ˌkanəˈneɪd
/noun
A period of continuous heavy gunfire: the French attack began with a cannonade figurative he unleashed a cannonade of invective...
- A desultory cannonade began at about 14.00, and as it seemed likely that there would be no battle that day Newcastle retired to his coach.
- Three times the German armor attempted to break through, but, as more battalions of American artillery joined the cannonade, the enemy at last gave way.
- All killings, all maimings, all arrogant demolishions of people's homes, all assassinations, all bombings, all suicide attacks, all aerial slaugherings, all tank cannonades, all invasions are inherently wrong.
Synonyms
bombardment, shelling, gunfire, artillery fire, barrage, battery, attack, pounding;
volley, salvo, broadside, fusillade
verb [no object] (often as noun cannonading)
Discharge heavy guns continuously: the daily cannonading continued...
- The enormous guns are now cannonading & preparing the way for our infantry.
- Raucous, sometimes almost spiritual singing, pushes from cellars, echoing and cannonading off the narrow whitewashed alleys.
- Her fears for her husband, who left two weeks later, were intensified when she heard cannonading from her own home.
Origin
Mid 16th century: from French, from Italian cannonata, from cannone (see cannon).