draw fire
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.69 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
In an armed encounter, to attract gunfire from an adversary, whether unintentionally or deliberately for the purpose of allowing one's allies or colleagues to gain a tactical advantage over the adversary.
verb
To create a distraction that allows one's friends, co-workers, or other associates to gain an advantage over the distracted party.
Example Sentences
- ""If you find only a handful of men there, drive them off; if they are in force, get near enough to draw their fire and find out their strength.""
- "But the latest Santa Fe development, while not spurring the Rock Island to any further acceleration, has drawn fire from a totally unexpected quarter."
- "Sometimes troops go into insurgent areas for the principal purpose of drawing their fire—so the Americans can shoot back and capture or kill them."
- "[T]he Navy Seals drew fire from only one al-Qaida gunman and quickly killed him."
- "By-the-way, you've never had much talk with Miss Woodburn, have you, March?" "Not so much as with Miss Woodburn's father." "Well, he is rather apt to scoop the conversation. I must draw his fire, sometime, when you and Mrs. March are around, and get you a chance with Miss Woodburn.""
- "The Compugraphics Corporation, a company that once drew fire for its income‐augmenting accounting practices, is making an impression in Wall Street these days with a solid record of quality earnings gains."