missile
Pluralmissiles
- 1A self-propelled flying weapon whose path can be steered or adjusted after it is launched.
Defense analysts tracked the missile as it adjusted course toward the moving ship.
The new missiles can be reprogrammed mid-flight to switch targets.
Note
A military narrowing of the word. Two conditions qualify an object: it carries its own propulsion, and its course can still be changed once it is in flight. A bullet or a stone meets neither, so it counts only under the older thrown-weapon sense. Context usually settles which meaning is intended: rioters throw missiles, while armies launch them.
- 2An object, such as a stone, arrow, or bullet, that is hurled or shot through the air to do harm.
Protesters launched bricks and other missiles over the barricade.
In the brawl, a thrown bottle became the first missile of the night.
Similarprojectile
Note
The older, broader sense, and the one closest to the Latin: missile meant a thrown weapon, from missilis 'throwable' and ultimately mittere 'to send'. English has used it since 1611. Anything becomes a missile when it is thrown in anger, which is why riot reports speak of 'bottles, fireworks and other missiles'. Whitman's battle-flags, 'pierc'd with missiles' in 1865, were struck by bullets.
Practice
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Origin
From Latin missile ("thrown weapon, projectile"), the neuter of missilis ("throwable"), which comes from mittere ("to send"). It dates from 1611, and can be compared with Middle French missile ("projectile"), from 1636.