MISSILE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Missile

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/mˈɪsəl/ Listen

noun

Missile n.

A weapon thrown or projected or intended to be projected, as a lance, an arrow, or a bullet.

A rocket-propelled device designed to fly through the air and deliver a warhead of explosive materials to a target. Note: Numerous types of rocket-propelled missile (2) are now used in modern warfare. Some types with names indicating their range or function are: antiaircraft missile; ballistic missile; cruise missile; antiballistic missile missile; air-to-air missile; air-to-ground missile; guided missile; intercontinental ballistic missile (IBM); intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM); surface-to-air missile.

adjective

Missile adj. Capable of being thrown; adapted for hurling or to be projected from the hand, or from any instrument or engine (2), so as to strike an object at a distance. "We bend the bow, or wing the missile dart."

See images of 'Missile'

Etymology of 'Missile'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar

"Missile" Quotes from Famous Books

... short by a loud roar from the jingal. The fallen dacoit had trained it perfectly before he dropped, and a comrade now touched off the piece. At the next moment a terrific crash rang through the building. The heavy missile had lighted full on the point where the door was secured by the stout bar, had smashed its way through door and bar and hurled the door open. As the portal flew back, there was a tremendous yell from the edge of the jungle. Then a cloud of blue figures burst into sight. With ...

— Jack Haydon's Quest • John Finnemore

... teeth. The dart is taken between the thumb and the second finger, the truncated ends of the leaves being pressed against the tip of the first finger, by which and the simultaneous impulse of the arm the dart is propelled. Accurate shots may be made with the missile, which has a range up to about thirty yards, with a penetrative force sufficient to pierce the skin. Occasionally the boys of the camp in opposing sides indulge in mimic fights, when the air rustles with the darts, and the yelling combatants exhibit expertness ...

— My Tropic Isle • E J Banfield

... is a larger mark than the man, and hence is more frequently hit, so that more than twice the number of horses fall in every engagement than men. The cavalryman is more shielded from the deadly missile than the infantryman. The horse's head and shoulders will often receive the bullet which was intended for the rider's body. This is true also of the elevated portions of the saddle, with the rolls of blankets ...

— Three Years in the Federal Cavalry • Willard Glazier

... and execution followed the shout. Fixing their spears in the ground, in order that they might be lighter to mount the heights, they advanced uphill at a run. The Volscians, having discharged their missile weapons at the first onset, hurled down the stones that lay at their feet upon the Romans as they were making their way up, and having thrown them into confusion by incessant blows, strove to drive them from the higher ground: thus the left wing of the Romans was nearly overborne, had not ...

— Roman History, Books I-III • Titus Livius

... tirade for the epigram as the vehicle of his satire, and handled this lighter missile with unsurpassed brilliance and verve. Despite his sycophancy and his fulsome flattery of prospective benefactors, he displays more of the sober moderation and sane common-sense of Horace than either of his contemporaries. There are few better satirists of social and literary pretenders ...

— English Satires • Various

More quotes...