RICOCHET • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Ricochet

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/rˈɪkəʃˌeɪ/ Listen

noun

Ricochet n.

A rebound or skipping, as of a bullet bouncing off a hard surface, or off the ground when a gun is fired at a low angle of elevation, or of a flat stone thrown along the surface of water.

A peculiar gait used by certain animals such as the kangaroo who move by a type of bouncing motion. "Kangaroos and wallabies (macropodids) as well as kangaroo mice and jerboas, locate themselves differently, though, and do not use the forelimbs at all in their distinctive modus locatus, to which Muybridge applied the term "ricochet",..."

Ricochet firing (Mil.), the firing of guns or howitzers, usually with small charges, at an elevation of only a few degrees, so as to cause the balls or shells to bound or skip along the ground.

verb

Ricochet v. t. (past & past part. ricocheted or ricochetted; pres. part. ricocheting or ricochetting) To operate upon by ricochet firing. See Ricochet, n. (R.)

Ricochet v. i. (past & past part. ricocheted or ricochetted; pres. part. ricocheting or ricochetting) To skip with a rebound or rebounds, as a flat stone on the surface of water, or a cannon ball on the ground. See Ricochet, n.

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Etymology of 'Ricochet'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Ricochet" Quotes from Famous Books

... only learn, as it were, by ricochet what was going on. My grandmother never set pen to paper. Her tongue to guide was trouble enough to her without setting down words on paper to rise up in judgment against her. True, my father wrote regularly to inquire if ...

— The Dew of Their Youth • S. R. Crockett

... the rats. Many a stormy cabinet meeting was held there by them. Many a boot was thrown at it during the night to let them know that Tommy Atkins objected to the matter under discussion. Sometimes one of these missiles would ricochet, and land on the upturned countenance of a snoring Tommy, and for about half an hour even the rats would pause in admiration ...

— Defenders of Democracy • Militia of Mercy

... delivered in the presence of an audience other than sympathetic, and Miss Halkett rightly guessed that it was intended to strike Captain Beauchamp by ricochet. He puffed at the mention of Beauchamp's name. He had read a reported speech or two of Beauchamp's, and shook his head over a quotation of the stuff, as though he would have sprung at him like a lion, but for ...

— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... coming to their ears a few seconds later. Invisible bees seemed to be winging through the air, the angry and venomous droning becoming more pronounced each passing moment, and the irregular cracking of rifles grew louder rapidly. An angry s-p-a-t! told of where a stone behind them had launched the ricochet which hurled skyward with a wheezing scream. A handful of 'dobe dust sprang from the corner of the building and sifted down upon them, causing ...

— Bar-20 Days • Clarence E. Mulford

... slightly, now fronting this way, now the other way; is "called always at midnight" (against these nocturnal disturbances), and "never has his clothes off." Nevertheless, continues his bombardment, and then his cannonading, till his own good time, which I think is till the 26th. His "ricochet-battery," which is good against Maguire's people, innocent to Dresden, he continued for three days more;—while gathering his furnitures about Plauen Country, making his arrangements at Meissen;—did not march till the night of June 29th. Altogether calmly; no ...

— History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XX. (of XXI.) • Thomas Carlyle

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