attack

attack

1. Music decisiveness in beginning a passage, movement, or piece

2. Music the speed with which a note reaches its maximum volume

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

What does it mean when you dream about an attack?

If one is being attacked in a dream, it can reflect feelings about something threatening in one’s environment. Defensiveness. The same kind of dream can mean feeling threatened by one’s own repressed aggressiveness, anger, or sexuality, especially if one is being attacked by an animal. If one is the attacker, it can reflect everything from self-assertiveness to the desire to attack something or someone in one’s environment. “Attack” can also be used as a metaphor, as in attacks of hunger, illness, conscience, guilt, etc.

The Dream Encyclopedia, Second Edition © 2009 Visible Ink Press®. All rights reserved.

attack

An assault against a computer system or network as a result of deliberate, intelligent action; for example, denial-of-service attacks, penetration and sabotage. See attacker, attack vector, brute force attack, dictionary attack, denial-of-service attack, replay attack, piggybacking, penetration and sabotage.

Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.

Attack

(dreams)

Research shows that the content of most dreams is more frequently unpleasant than pleasant. Most people have experienced violent dreams or dreams in which they are being attacked. To understand your dream, consider all of its details and think about whether you are the attacker or the one being attacked. If you are being attacked, then maybe you are feeling somewhat vulnerable in some area of your daily life. If you are doing the attacking, it may be that you are releasing some of your frustrations and anger while expressing negative feelings in ways that you are unable to do in daily life.

Bedside Dream Dictionary by Silvana Amar Copyright © 2007 by Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Attack

 

a combination of fire and swift movements of units and subunits in order to strike and rout the enemy. An attack is carried out by the coordinated efforts of the various combat arms; it is completed by point-blank firing and the use of hand grenades and side arms (bayonets and other weapons). Infantry, cavalry, tank, air, torpedo (in naval combat), and other forms of attack may be distinguished. The forms of attack have changed considerably as a result of the development of war matériel, organization of troops, and quality of personnel. In modern combined arms combat an attack is carried out by tank and motorized rifle troops with the support of artillery fire and air strikes; the attack is secured by engineering, chemical, and other special troops. An attack is carried out at the start of an offensive from march column or from an occupied position in direct contact with the enemy. The artillery and aviation carry out preparation fire and provide fire support during the attack. Motorized rifle troops attack most frequently behind tanks, moving either on foot or in armored personnel carriers. A successful attack requires careful preparation and the organization of efficient cooperation. Cavalry attacks were of great importance in combat operations until the early 20th century, and they played an important role during the Civil War in the USSR. Air attacks against hostile air forces are carried out by single fighter planes and groups of fighters. In naval combat, attacks are carried out by all the combat arms of the navy—most frequently, naval aviation, submarines, and torpedo boats.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.