onslaught, noun

Elliptical for total onslaught (sense a); often used ironically.
1982 Argus 22 Oct. 14The Minister of Law and Order..has revealed a..warped concept of justice by asserting..that the many..who oppose the idea of magistrates presiding over political trials, among them eminent jurists and lawyers, and the official Opposition, are part of the ‘onslaught against South Africa’.
1986 A. Klaaste in Frontline June 6The ‘onslaught’ makes a brief appearance...To counteract the onslaught, the aims of Biblical Studies are listed.
1987 B. Ronge in Sunday Times 17 May (Mag. Suppl.) 6‘Onslaught’..has now been reserved for such things as letters sent to Canadians living in South Africa by a Canadian politician.
1987 Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)‘Are you on pass [from the army]?’ ‘No, illegal, but I don’t think the onslaught will start tonight.’
1992 C.M. Knox tr. of E. Van Heerden’s Mad Dog 172In the town hall the Prime Minister addressed us on Preserving Our Heritage and the Onslaught against our Country.
Elliptical for total onslaught (sense a); often used ironically.
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elliptical
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ons land, noun phrasen. phr.oom, nounn.
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