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DictionarystrafeAerial attack
verb / noun

strafe

STRAYF/streɪf/

An attack on ground targets with gunfire from low-flying aircraft.

Low-flying aircraft strafe the enemy convoy with machine-gun fire.

A low-flying propeller military aircraft fires its fixed forward-facing guns toward an unoccupied military truck on the ground; muzzle flashes, a short downward-forward tracer path, and a line of ground impacts make the strafing action explicit.
Etymology
strafeGermanpunish

German strafen means “punish.” British soldiers adopted it for attacks generally, and the English meaning later narrowed to gunfire directed at ground targets from low-flying aircraft.

In context

Iconic Rewind1:29
the guns open fire. What happens next will become one of the Pacific War's most controversial actions and one of its most devastating. Over 3 days, Allied aircraft will systematically strafe thousands of Japanese survivors
How Americans Strafed 3,000 Japanese Convoy Survivors—And Shocked the World

More examples

  • The fighter strafed the parked trucks before climbing away.
  • The planes fly low, strafing enemy positions along the road.
  • A strafe by a low-flying fighter damages the convoy.

Forms

strafe · strafes · strafed · strafing

Similar words

rake
Sweeps a target with gunfire, not necessarily from aircraft.
bomb
Attacks with explosive bombs rather than gunfire from aircraft.