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to attack vigorously or violently; -ssault.
to attack with arguments, criticism, ridicule, abuse, etc.:
to -ssail one’s opponent with slander.
to undertake with the purpose of mastering:
he -ssailed his studies with new determination.
to impinge upon; make an impact on; beset:
his mind was -ssailed by conflicting arguments. the light -ssailed their eyes.
historical examples

in these points we were “-ssailable;” we had “too long and too tenaciously” resisted british rights.
martin van buren edward m. shepard

she was -ssailable;—and, as this was so, why the mischief should he not set about the work at once?
the belton estate anthony trollope

yet grenville apparently never dreamt that his position was -ssailable.
farmer george, volume 1 lewis melville

the north and west sides are the most -ssailable parts of the city.
letters from palestine j. d. paxton

martin was that species of man which, of all others, is most -ssailable by flattery.
the martins of cro’ martin, vol. ii (of ii) charles james lever

it was a painful case; but the chain of inference was not -ssailable.
the lord of the sea m. p. shiel

but he soon found that the position extended too far southward to be -ssailable by his limited forces.
the relief of mafeking filson young

i asked him to make the reconnoissance and designate the -ssailable points.
from man-ssas to appomattox james longstreet

he prepared for both contingencies, posting careful men at every -ssailable point.
the frontier fort w. h. g. kingston

in other words, mrs. sowler’s head was only -ssailable by hot grog, when hot grog was administered in large quant-ties.
the fallen leaves wilkie collins

verb (transitive)
to attack violently; -ssault
to criticize or ridicule vehemently, as in argument
to beset or disturb: his mind was -ssailed by doubts
to encounter with the intention of mastering: to -ssail a problem, to -ssail a difficult mountain ridge
v.

c.1200, from old french -ssalir “attack, -ssault, -ssail” (12c., modern french -ssaillir), from vulgar latin -adsalire “to leap at,” from latin ad- “at” (see ad-) + salire “to leap” (see salient (adj.)). figurative use from mid-14c. related: -ssailed; -ssailing; -ssailable.