enfilade fire
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈɛnfəˌleɪd faɪər/
- Specialized
:
fuego enfilado
- The commander ordered his men to aim for enfilade fire to maximize the impact of their gunfire.
Examples
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Moving in front of those rocky heights, we'll have enfilade fire... ...coming down on us.
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You will lay down an enfilade fire, and I'll go out under it.
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The soldiers positioned themselves to deliver enfilade fire onto the advancing enemy troops.
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By using enfilade fire, the battalion was able to inflict significant damage on the enemy's formation.
Synonyms
1
9.9
Gunfire that moves along a line of soldiers or a trench to hit many of them
How Heavy
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is directly compositional: 'enfilade' specifies the direction/geometry of shooting and 'fire' denotes gunfire, so together they mean gunfire directed along the length of a formation. This is a straightforward modifier + head combination following normal English composition, although the lexical item 'enfilade' is specialist and unlikely to be known to a typical B1 learner unless taught.
Etymology
Enfilade fire comes from a clear image: imagine bullets moving down the full length of a line of soldiers, like a thread through beads. The word enfilade means 'going along the line' and fire means 'shooting', so this kind of shooting is especially deadly and causes heavy damage.