Main Entry: ¹vol·ley

Pronunciation: \ˈvä-lē\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural volleys

Etymology: Middle French volee flight, from voler to fly, from Old French, from Latin volare

Date: 1573

1 a : a flight of missiles (as arrows) b : simultaneous discharge of a number of missile weapons c : one round per gun in a battery fired as soon as a gun is ready without regard to order d (1) : the flight of the ball (as in volleyball or tennis) or its course before striking the ground; also : a return of the ball before it touches the ground (2) : a kick of the ball in soccer before it rebounds (3) : the exchange of the shuttlecock in badminton following the serve
2 a : a burst or emission of many things or a large amount at once <received a volley of angry letters> <a volley of praise> b : a burst of simultaneous or immediately sequential nerve impulses passing to an end organ, synapse, or center