RICOCHET • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Ricochet

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/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.

See images of 'Ricochet'

Etymology of 'Ricochet'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Ricochet" Quotes from Famous Books

... the sandbank, they cannot now proceed up the river to Bhamo, as they had intended, so they returned with us to Mandalay. The first gangway plank was hardly down when they were ashore and away like a bullet, with a ricochet and a twang behind; a Silver king, they say, and a future president!—How rapidly Americans travel, and assimilate facts, and what extraordinary conclusions ...

— From Edinburgh to India & Burmah • William G. Burn Murdoch

... — N. recoil; reaction, retroaction; revulsion; bounce, rebound, ricochet; repercussion, recalcitration[obs3]; kick, contrecoup[Fr]; springing back &c. v.; elasticity &c. 325; reflection, reflexion[Brit], reflex, reflux; reverberation &c. (resonance) 408; rebuff, repulse; return. ...

— Roget's Thesaurus

... animal is small and harmless like the black-buck, which inhabits level plains in the vicinity of population, and where the bullet would be exceedingly dangerous should it pass through the antelope and ricochet into some unlucky village. ...

— Wild Beasts and their Ways • Sir Samuel W. Baker

... like sailing over a mill-pond, after the past roughness, for it lay still beneath the vertical sun, and was thronged with shipping of every description and nationality. Presently there came a reverberation that seemed to ricochet from rock and wave, and a little ...

— All Aboard - A Story for Girls • Fannie E. Newberry

... very word duel he will listen to nothing more. However, the matter must be arranged; it must be.... What would I not give to know the truth of the scene between Gorka and Florent? By what strange and diabolical ricochet did the Palatine hit upon the latter when his business was with the brother-in-law?.... Will he be angry that I am his adversary's second?.... Bah!... After our conversation of the other day our friendship ...

— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet

More quotes...