blitz

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   in American football, a tactic whereby defensive players try to break through the offensive line

   The coach encouraged the players to undertake a blitz.

2. 2
   verb

   to attack suddenly and without warning

   We blitzed our enemies.

3. 3
   noun

   A swift and overwhelming attack or effort.

   We embarked on a publicity blitz, putting posters and flyers all around town.

4. 4
   noun

   Ellipsis of blitz chess.

   What I had played was chess. Specially, I knocked out some 2,000 games of speed (or "blitz") chess in the two months leading up to the tournament. In fact, I played so much that I'm currently in the top half-percent of more than 1.3 million of blitz players at an online chess competition site.

5. 5
   verb

   To attack quickly or suddenly, as by an air raid or similar action.

   So the question remains — what to do with ignorance, which I must presume is deliberate, as in this media-blitzed era it is not possible to be truly ignorant after age 12.

6. 6
   verb

   To perform a blitz.

   The Washington High defense almost always blitzes on third down.

7. 7
   verb

   To purée or chop (food products) using a food processor or blender.

   To make nut roast, you have to blitz the nuts in the food processor before adding the parsley and breadcrumbs.

8. 8
   noun

   a swift and violent military offensive with intensive aerial bombardment

Etymology

Specific use of blitz. The Blitz was in truth not a blitzkrieg, which is a rapid ground offensive based on superior tank forces. However, the word was current at the time for the successful German campaigns in Poland and France, and was transferred to the attacks on Britain, perhaps by association of Blitz (“lightning”) with the bombings.