All 50 Uses of
assail
in
The Ramayana
- For evil fiends that roam by night Disturbed him in each holy rite, And in their strength and frantic rage Assailed with witcheries the sage.†
Book 1 *assailed = attacked
- And fifty children also came Of Vijayá the beauteous dame, Sanháras named, of mighty force, Hard to assail or check in course.†
Book 1assail = attack
- O'er thee fatigue shall ne'er prevail, Nor age or change thy limbs assail.†
Book 1
- Her, rushing on, the seer assailed With a loud cry of hate; And thus the sons of Raghu hailed: "Fight, and be fortunate."†
Book 1assailed = attacked
- Then Gádhi's son, when these had failed, With Brahmá's dart his foe assailed.†
Book 1
- Then God and saint and bard, convened, And Nága lord, and snake, and fiend, Thus to the General Father cried, Distracted, sad, and terrified: "Against the hermit, sore assailed, Lure, scathe, and scorn have naught availed, Proof against rage and treacherous art He keeps his vow with constant heart.†
Book 1
- u's might assailed, And Gods and heavenly sages thence To Vishnu gave preëminence.†
Book 1
- The words the warder maiden said He heard with soul disquieted, And thus as fiercer grief assailed, His troubled senses wellnigh failed.†
Book 2
- Does some wild dream my heart assail?†
Book 2assail = attack
- He grovelled on the ground, and lay To burning grief a senseless prey, And ever and anon, assailed By floods of woe he wept and wailed, Striving with eager speed to gain The margent of his sea of pain.†
Book 2assailed = attacked
- As thus the monarch wept and wailed, And maddening grief his heart assailed, The sun had sought his resting-place, And night was closing round apace.†
Book 2
- Thus in their woe, like kine bereaved Of their young calves,(287) the ladies grieved, And ever as they wept and wailed With keen reproach the king assailed.†
Book 2
- Not one in all the world I know, Not outcast wretch, not secret foe, Whose whispering lips would dare assail His spotless life with slanderous tale.†
Book 2assail = attack
- He fears his truth herein will fail: Hence bitter thoughts his heart assail.†
Book 2
- And he who dares his Fate control With vigorous act and manly soul, Though threatening Fate his hopes assail, Unmoved through all need never quail.†
Book 2
- The power of Fate will ne'er withstand The might that arms my vigorous hand; If danger and distress assail, My fearless strength will still prevail.†
Book 2
- By pangs of bitter grief assailed, The long-armed monarch wept and wailed, Half dead a while and sore distraught, While Ráma filled his every thought.†
Book 2assailed = attacked
- As thus the son of Raghu went Forth for his dreary banishment, Chill numbing grief the town assailed, All strength grew weak, all spirit failed, Ayodhyá through her wide extent Was filled with tumult and lament: Steeds neighed and shook the bells they bore, Each elephant returned a roar.†
Book 2
- The monarch heard them as they wailed, And by the fire of grief assailed For his dear son, he bowed his head, And all his sense and memory fled.†
Book 2
- A while they followed on the road Which traces of his chariot showed, But when at length those traces failed, A deep despair their hearts assailed.†
Book 2
- In every house a woman wailed, And her returning lord assailed With keen taunt piercing like the steel That bids the tusked monster kneel: "What now to them is wedded dame, What house and home and dearest aim, Or son, or bliss, or gathered store, Whose eyes on Ráma look no more!†
Book 2
- 'Tis thus with all: we keenly feel, Yet bear the blows our foemen deal, But when a slender woe assails The manliest spirit bends and quails.†
Book 2assails = attacks
- s mournful fate On Dasaratha, good and great As Indra, pressed with crushing weight, As when the demon's might assails The Sun-God, and his glory pales.†
Book 2
- O Prince, of mighty fame, be thou Our guardian and our monarch now, Lest secret plot or foeman's hate Assail our unprotected state.†
Book 2assail = attack
- When I trace Each sign of trouble on thy face— That lotus which the sun has dried, That lily by the tempest tried, That gold whereon the dust is spread, That moon whence all the light is fled— Sorrow assails my heart, alas!†
Book 2assails = attacks
- The ills of age man's strength assail: Ah, what can mortal power avail?†
Book 2assail = attack
- In every spot throughout the grove With evil thoughts the monsters rove, Assailing with their secret might Each unsuspecting anchorite.†
Book 2assailing = attacking
- Armed with thy bow and arrows thou Forth with thy brother journeyest now, While as I think how true thou art Fears for thy bliss assail my heart, And all my spirit at the sight Is troubled with a strange affright.†
Book 3assail = attack
- When sacred rites of fire are due, When changing moons are full or new, These fiends who bleeding flesh devour Assail us with resistless power.†
Book 3
- Not God or bard or wandering ghost, No giant of our mighty host Shall step between us, or avail To save the wretch when I assail.†
Book 3
- Then came o'er heaven a sanguine hue, Though evening's flush not yet was due, While each ill-omened bird that flies Assailed the king with harshest cries.†
Book 3assailed = attacked
- By stress of arrowy storm assailed, And wounded sore, he never failed, Like some high mountain which defies The red bolts flashing from the skies.†
Book 3
- Then, by the gathering demons pressed From north and south and east and west, By showers of deadly darts assailed From every quarter fiercely hailed, Girt by the foes who swarmed around, He raised a mighty shout whose sound Struck terror.†
Book 3
- Thy boasted rovers of the night With hideous shapes and giant might,— Like serpents when the feathered king Swoops down with his tremendous wing,— Will find their useless venom fail When Ráma's mighty arms assail.†
Book 3assail = attack
- As thus he mourned his vanished dame A mighty trembling seized his frame, And by o'erpowering grief assailed, His troubled senses reeled and failed.†
Book 3assailed = attacked
- It smiles not, as the dear light fails When Ráhu's jaw the moon assails.†
Book 3assails = attacks
- And those twin lights, the world's great eyes, On which the universe relies,— Does not eclipse at times assail Their brilliance till their fires grow pale?†
Book 3assail = attack
- Ah, haply might my heart endure This hopeless love that knows not cure, If spring with all his trees in flower Assailed me not with ruthless power.†
Book 4assailed = attacked
- Whose valiant heart will never quail Although a thousand foes assail; King Dasaratha's son, the grace And glory of Ikshváku's race.†
Book 4assail = attack
- Then, like the moon by mist assailed, The tear-dimmed eyes of Ráma failed; That burst of woe unmanned his frame, Woe sprung from passion for his dame, And with his manly strength o'erthrown, He fell and cried, Ah me!†
Book 4assailed = attacked
- At last the monster's strength, assailed By Sakra's(572) conquering offspring, failed.†
Book 4
- Scarce might the Gods, arrayed for strife By Indra's self, escape, with life Assailed by thy victorious hand: And how may Báli hope to stand?†
Book 4
- His angry eyes flashed darkly red, And all his native brightness fled, As when, by swift eclipse assailed, The glory of the sun has failed.†
Book 4
- But thou, in duty's claims untaught, Thy breast with blinding passion fraught, Assailest me who still have clung To duty, with thy bitter tongue.†
Book 4assailest = attackstandard suffix: Today, the suffix "-est" is dropped, so that where they said "Thou assailest" in older English, today we say "You assail."
- Assailed by thirst and hunger, dame, Within a gloomy vault we came.†
Book 4assailed = attacked
- On, ever on we urged our way Where fields of ether round us lay, Till, by the fervent heat assailed, My brother's pinions flagged and failed.†
Book 4
- Yet dauntless hearts will never fail To win success though foes assail, And I this sorrow will subdue And search the palace through and through, Exploring with my cautious tread Each spot as yet unvisited.†
Book 5assail = attack
- Then round the helpless Sítá drew With fiery eyes the hideous crew, And thus assailed her, all and each, With insult, taunt, and threatening speech: "What!†
Book 5assailed = attacked
- As from her eyes the waters ran, The Vánar chief again began: "Yea, Ráma, when he hears my tale, Will with our hosts these walls assail.†
Book 5assail = attack
- The Wind-God's son a temple(873) scaled Which, by his fury unassailed, High as the hill of Meru, stood Amid the ruins of the wood; And in his fury thundered out Again his haughty battle-shout: "I am the slave of Kosal's King Whose wondrous deeds the minstrels sing."†
Book 5unassailed = not attackedstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unassailed means not and reverses the meaning of assailed. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
Definition:
to attack or cause trouble