sally

1 of 2

noun

sal·​ly ˈsa-lē 

plural sallies

1

: an action of rushing or bursting forth

especially : a sortie of troops from a defensive position to attack the enemy

2

a

: a brief outbreak : outburst

b

: a witty or imaginative saying : quip

3

: a venture or excursion usually off the beaten track : jaunt

sally

2 of 2

verb

sallied; sallying

intransitive verb

1

: to leap out or burst forth suddenly

2

: set out, depart

—often used with forth

Synonyms

Noun

• excursion
• sortie
• tour

Verb

• depart
• exit
• move
• go
• get
• go off
• cut out
• walk out
• bail out
• run along
• get off
• peel off
• dig out
• clear out
• clear off [chiefly British]
• pull out

Examples of sally in a Sentence

Noun

a morning sally out to see the historic monuments around the city

the final sally made her laugh, and that ended the argument

Verb

he eagerly sallied forth from his small town to seek a new life in the bustling city

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Prices of stocks and bonds, along with long-term interest rates, have oscillated up and down in response to the daily verbal sallies from the White House. —Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 27 Apr. 2025

The most comprehensive sally, of course, is the administration’s drastic and abrupt cut in funding by the National Institutes of Health. —Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 13 Feb. 2025

Most recently, the Kremlin has settled on a strategy that involves legal sallies against international digital companies—including Apple, Facebook, Google, and Twitter. —Andrei Soldatov, Foreign Affairs, 3 Nov. 2015

He was born into a rich family, and his father, the outer-borough real-estate developer Fred Trump, financed his early sallies into Manhattan real estate. —John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 29 Mar. 2024

The close relationship between Abe and Hudson really got under way after his first disastrous sally as prime minister in 2006–7, when everyone in Japan thought his political career was over. —Arthur Herman, National Review, 8 July 2022

Both nominees would be vital to Democrats push to revive Net neutrality, the latest sally in a decades-long battle over whether all Internet traffic should be treated equally by providers. —BostonGlobe.com, 26 Oct. 2021

And consider compromise that can bring most everyone to the table in agreement, rather than insisting on a quixotic sally into a windmill that might flip a body into the air and leave it to fall. —Erik Sherman, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2021

As Claremont puts a great deal of effort into promoting constitutional principles and the Founding, this is a peculiarly off-base sally. —Kyle Smith, National Review, 21 Aug. 2019

Verb

That may last for a while as buyers who weren’t able to purchase an apartment during the depths of the pandemic restrictions finally sally forth. —Jacky Wong, WSJ, 20 June 2022

In 2018, for instance, an American aircraft-carrier sallied into the Arctic Circle for the first time in 30 years, during a huge exercise in Norway. —The Economist, 16 May 2020

In addition to this, the two foresters cite other assaults: the beetle colonies that waited out the newly mild winters in the dead wood left by the high winds, and which sallied forth aggressively this year to attack new stands. —National Geographic, 13 Jan. 2020

From the school, convoys sallied forth every morning toward the half-dozen sawmills that lay beyond town, hidden behind high plank walls. —Felipe Fittipaldi, National Geographic, 28 Aug. 2019

Cleander, who commanded the Praetorian Guards, ordered a body of cavalry to sally forth and disperse the seditious multitude. —Kevin D. Williamson, National Review, 6 June 2019

In my own hopelessly romantic eyes, Dr. Hawking in the Copley Plaza will always be St. George in a wheelchair, sallying forth to slay the black-hole dragon. —Dennis Overbye, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2018

So many people going to the game or other festivities surrounding the game are waiting for temperatures to safely rise above freezing levels before sallying out. —Ed Kilgore, Daily Intelligencer, 8 Jan. 2018

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle French saillie, from Old French, from saillir to rush forward, from Latin salire to leap; akin to Greek hallesthai to leap

First Known Use

Noun

1560, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1560, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing sally

• sally forth
• sally out
• sally port

Rhymes for sally

• alley
• alli
• bally
• calli
• challis
• dally
• galley
• galli
• lally
• mallee
• mally
• rally

Kids Definition

sally

1 of 2 noun

sal·​ly ˈsal-ē 

plural sallies

1

: an action of rushing or bursting out

especially : a sudden attack of surrounded troops upon the attackers

2

: a witty remark : quip

3

: excursion sense 1a, jaunt

sally

2 of 2 verb

sallied; sallying

1

: to leap or burst out suddenly

2

: set out sense 2, depart

sallied out to see the town