strafe
/ˈstɹeɪ̯f/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/ˈstɹæɪ̯f/
strafe verb: to attack (ground targets) with automatic gunfire from a low-flying aircraft.
Verb
strafe (third-person singular simple present strafes, present participle strafing, simple past and past participle strafed)
- To attack (ground targets) with automatic gunfire from a low-flying aircraft.
- These should be especially useful against low-flying planes that "strafe" infantry and transport columns with machine-gun fire and light bombs.1929, Frank Thone, “‘Thinking Machine’ Aims Guns”, in The Science News-Letter, volume 16, number 437, pages 107-09
- To rake (a target) with rapid or automatic gunfire.
- Laffey, fresh off from strafing Hiei, ran straight into a quarter of the Japanese navy's remaining destroyers, and, along with Kirishima, between gunfire and another successful Type 93 torpedo strike that tore off the ship's stern, the hapless destroyer was left drifting, ablaze, and would...2021 March 10, Drachinifel, 20:16 from the start, in Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 1 (IJN 3(?) : 2 USN), archived from the original on 17 Oct 2022
- To reprimand severely.
- You will get an officer sometimes fu'l of shout and swank, an' 'e 'll put 'em through it, an' strafe 'em, an' walk off parade feelin' that 'e 'as put the fear o' God into 'em.1933, Thomas Clement Lonergan, “Private 19022”, in The Military Engineer, volume 23, number 132, page 582
- To sidestep; to move sideways without turning (a core mechanic of most first-person shooters).
- Strafe — Press the Alt key and the left or right Arrow key to slide side to side instead of turning left or right.1992, id Software, Wolfenstein 3D (game manual), page 4
- If the NPC is close to the player, he may also try using the tried-and-true Quake circle-strafing technique.2001, Jana Hallford, Swords and circuitry: a designer's guide to computer role playing games
Noun
strafe (plural strafes)
- A heavy artillery bombardment.
- They were unfortunate, for a well-aimed shell during a German evening strafe demolished the apple tree and the nest.1917, H.Thoburn-Clarke, “Nesting Mothers of Battle Zone: Bird Life Where Cannons Roar”, in Current History, volume 6, number 1, page 142
- An attack of machine-gun or cannon fire from a low-flying aircraft.
- A sideways movement without turning.
- We also have added a new game control called the "defensive strafe," in which the user can press a button and stay facing forward.2004, Marc Saltzman, Game Creation and Careers: Insider Secrets from Industry Experts
strafe meaning in Tamil and Malayalam
strafe in Tamil
- பரவல் குண்டுவீச்சு
strafe in Malayalam
- shell, bomb, bombard
- ബോംബാക്രമണം നടത്തുക, ബോംബിടുക, ബോംബെറിയുക, ഷെൽപ്രയോഗം നടത്തുക, വെടിവയ്ക്കുക, അണിവെടി വയ്ക്കുക
Examples of strafe in a sentence
- A deluge of Ben Franklins, Ulysses Grants, and Andrew Jacksons strafed the ground.
- They strafed Shihshou and along the eastern shore of the great Tungting Lake.
- Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY immediately maneuvered his craft through several strafing runs which completely silenced the enemy.
Forms of strafe
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | strafes |
| present participle | strafing |
| past participle | strafed |
| past | strafed |
| Noun | |
| plural | strafes |
Origin of strafe
Borrowed from German strafe (“punish”) (a conjugated form of strafen), from phrases like Gott strafe England (“God punish England”) which the British saw during the First World War.
Words formed from strafe
Phrases with strafe
Words that rhyme with strafe
Questions about strafe
- What does strafe mean?
- Strafe means to attack (ground targets) with automatic gunfire from a low-flying aircraft.
- What is strafe in Tamil?
- Strafe in Tamil is பரவல் குண்டுவீச்சு. See Strafe meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is strafe?
- Strafe can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce strafe?
- Strafe is pronounced /ˈstɹeɪ̯f/.
- What is the past tense of strafe?
- The past tense of strafe is strafed.
Words near strafe in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: strafe (page history and authors); strafe (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); strafe (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-strafe.wav.
Cite this entry: “strafe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/strafe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.