assail

Etymology

From Middle English assailen, from Old French assaillir, assalir, from Late Latin assalīre, from Latin ad (“at, towards”) + salīre (“jump”). See also assault.

verb

1. (transitive) To attack with harsh words or violent force (also figuratively).
   Muggers assailed them as they entered an alley.
   Our ears were assailed by her joyous efforts on her new saxophone.
   […] for the next six months or so those children will assail her in public with demands for an improper story! 1897, Saki, “The Story-teller”, in Beasts and Super-beasts, London: John Lane, published 1914, page 238
   We got married immediately after I finished my work […] which should have been the happiest day of my life. […] ¶ But, it was not my happiest day. I was assailed by doubts. 1942, Zora Neale Hurston, chapter 14, in Dust Tracks on a Road, New York: Arno Press and The New York Times, published 1969, page 258
   2007, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Wizard of the Crow, Nairobo: East African Educational Publishers, Book 2, Chapter 3, p. 64, He did not like being in crowds, foul smells galore assailing his nostrils.