(n.) A setting to work upon some task, etc.
(n.) An access of disease; a fit of sickness.
(n.) An assault upon one's feelings or reputation with unfriendly or bitter words.
(n.) The act of attacking, or falling on with force or violence; an onset; an assault; -- opposed to defense.
(n.) The beginning of corrosive, decomposing, or destructive action, by a chemical agent.
(v. i.) To make an onset or attack.
(v. t.) To assail with unfriendly speech or writing; to begin a controversy with; to attempt to overthrow or bring into disrepute, by criticism or satire; to censure; as, to attack a man, or his opinions, in a pamphlet.
(v. t.) To begin to affect; to begin to act upon, injuriously or destructively; to begin to decompose or waste.
(v. t.) To fall upon with force; to assail, as with force and arms; to assault.
(v. t.) To set to work upon, as upon a task or problem, or some object of labor or investigation.