strafe
verb
\ ˈstrāf
, especially British ˈsträf\
, especially British ˈsträf\
strafed;
strafing
Definition of strafe
: to rake (ground troops, an airfield, etc.) with fire at close range and especially with machine-gun fire from low-flying aircraft
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Examples of strafe in a Sentence
The planes strafed the town.
Recent Examples on the Web
But during its offshore path up the edge of the state, Matthew strafed the Florida coast with a large, damaging wind field. — Ben Crandell, sun-sentinel.com, "A day of questioning Hurricane Dorian: It’s going to turn, right?," 2 Sep. 2019 The island was strafed by Japanese aircraft but never invaded, and American troops staged from Adak successfully retook the Aleutian Islands of Attu and Kiska. — Author: Paxson Woelber, Anchorage Daily News, "Trekking into the storm-battered, golden beauty of Adak Island," 17 June 2019 The rant, scraped from Facebook and posted on Twitter, talked about having the freedom to wait in line for a pretzel before devolving into an unhinged screed strafing child-free millennials with profanities. — Scott Craven, azcentral, "Is going to Disneyland or Disney World more fun without kids? Definitely. Here's why.," 2 Aug. 2019 At Chad’s request, French warplanes from Barkhane, France’s anti-jihadist force in the Sahel, strafed the rebels for three days. — The Economist, "Idriss Déby, Chad’s despot, is struggling to stay in power," 18 July 2019 Local news outlets report gunfire strafed the inside and parking lot of the Stadium Ultralounge & Bar early Saturday, apparently beginning after a fight where videos show one man breaking a bottle over another man’s head. — Time, "7 Wounded in Louisiana Nightclub Shooting," 30 June 2019 Planes that dropped paratroopers on D-Day, bombed German defenses and strafed Panzer units may well have been flown first by women from factories on their way to the front, where men were at the controls. — Fox News, "Women at war: Backstage heroines in D-Day's 75th anniversary," 8 June 2019 Coalition aircraft strafed the mountain a day before our arrival, firing 12 rockets. — Jonathan Spyer, WSJ, "ISIS Finds a Niche in Northern Iraq," 5 Dec. 2018 But before the squad’s plane reaches their drop point, it’s strafed with enemy fire. — Bryan Bishop, The Verge, "Overlord is a gloriously entertaining piece of B-movie schlock," 9 Nov. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'strafe.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for strafe
strafe
verb
English Language Learners Definition of strafe
: to attack (something) with machine guns from low-flying airplanes
See the full definition for strafe in the English Language Learners Dictionary