assailant

Etymology

From Old French assaillant, from the verb assaillir, from Late Latin assalīre, from Latin ad (“to, towards”) + salīre (“to jump”). Equivalent to assail + -ant.

noun

1. Someone who attacks or assails another violently, or criminally.
   […] commonly some of us used to get up a tree to look out for any assailant, or kidnapper, that might come upon us; for they sometimes took those opportunities of our parents absence to attack and carry off as many as they could seize. 1789, Olaudah Equiano, chapter 2, in The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, volume 1, London: for the author, page 47
   In the middle of a crowded street a young man would be attacked, stripped, thrashed, and left bleeding on the pavement; in fifteen seconds it was all over and the assailants had disappeared. 1935, Christopher Isherwood, chapter 8, in Mr. Norris Changes Trains, Penguin, published 1961, page 89
   In the village of Aqraba, the Sheikh Saadeh Mosque was set on fire before the assailants graffitied the words “price tag” and “revenge” on its walls. 2018, Edo Konrad, “Living in the constant shadow of settler violence”, in +972 Magazine
2. (figurative, by extension) A hostile critic or opponent.
   1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, London: T. Payne and Son and T. Cadell, Volume 5, Book 9, Chapter 3, p. 41, […] the assailants of the quill have their honour as much at heart as the assailants of the sword.

adj

1. Assailing; attacking.
   But he though blind of sight, / Despis'd, and thought extinguish'd quite, / With inward eyes illuminated, / His fiery virtue roused / From under ashes into sudden flame, / And as an evening dragon came, / Assailant on the perched roosts / And nests in order ranged / Of tame villatic fowl, but as an eagle / His cloudless thunder bolted on their heads. 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes, line 1687 to 1696