onslaught

noun

an onset, assault, or attack, especially a vigorous one.

Origin:
1615–25; < Dutch aanslag a striking, (earlier) attack (equivalent to aan on + slag blow, stroke; akin to slay), with assimilation to obsolete slaught slaughter

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Collins

World English Dictionary

onslaught (ˈɒnˌslɔːt)

—n
	a violent attack

[C17: from Middle Dutch aenslag, from aanon + slag a blow, related to slay]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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00:10

Onslaught is always a great word to know.

So is doohickey. Does it mean:

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.

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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

onslaught

1625, anslaight, somehow from or on analogy of Du. aanslag "attack," from M.Du. aenslach, from aen "on" + slach "blow," related to slaen "slay." Spelling infl. by obs. (since c.1400) Eng. slaught (n.) "slaughter," from O.E. sleaht (see slaughter). No record of its use

in 18c.; apparently revived by Scott.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences

Central government will essentially break down in the face of a libertarian

technological onslaught.

To keep fully on top of this onslaught is both difficult and foolhardy.

And don't think that the ocean is off limits to gravity's onslaught.

We adapt to the onslaught and continue to proliferate.

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Related Words

abide avail charge

charge repel

Matching Quote

"Firm, faithful, and devoted, full of energy and zeal, and truth, he labours for his race; he clears their painful way to improvement; he hews down like a giant the prejudices of creed and caste that encumber it. He may be stern; he may be exacting; he may be ambitious yet; but his is the sternness of the warrior Greatheart, who guards his pilgrim convoy from the onslaught of Apollyon. His is the exaction of the apostle, who speaks but for Christ, when he says, "Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." His is the ambition of the high master-spirit, which aims to fill a place in the first rank of those who are redeemed from the earth—who stand without fault before the throne of God, who share the last mighty victories of the Lamb, who are called, and chosen, and faithful."

-Charlotte Brontë

onslaught

on·slaught