ricochet

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɹɪk.ə.ʃeɪ/ (UK)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French ricochet (“the skipping of a shot or a flat stone on water”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} of uncertain origin.^[3][4][6] In its earliest French use (15th century) the word appears only in phrases such as fable du ricochet, a tale in which the teller skilfully evades questions, and chanson du ricochet, a repetitive song.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Etymonline and the OED date the verb, in the military sense of subjecting a place to ricochet fire, to 1758;^[4][7] the noun, a way of firing projectiles so that they skip along a surface, is from 1769.^[7][3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive verb, of a projectile glancing or skipping off a surface, is recorded from 1828,^[7][3][4][5] and it is now the usual sense.^[2][5][6]

Timeline

• 1758 – verb, to subject to ricochet fire.^[4][7]
• 1769 – noun, ricochet firing.^[7][3][4][5]
• 1828 – verb, to rebound or skip.^[7][3][4][5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To rebound one or more times from a surface, as a bullet or a stone skipping on water.

Noun

1. The act or an instance of ricocheting; a glancing rebound.
2. An object that ricochets.

Related words

• rebound
• carom
• scud

Usage notes

Random House lists rebound, deflect and glance as synonyms of the verb.^[6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press