onfall means A falling on or upon; an attack, onset, or assault. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
Why “onfall” is a great word
ONFALL — [Noun/Verb] A falling upon; a physical assault, a descent of weather, or the encroachment of night. From Middle English onfal, onfalle, equivalent to the prefix on- + fall. Cognate with Dutch aanval ("attack, assault") and German Anfall ("attack, seizure"). Unlike "attack"—a workmanlike generality—or "onset"—which leans toward a mere beginning—"onfall" carries the archaic weight of a downward trajectory. It is the sky unleashing stinging sleet upon the moor, the shadow of a hawk plummeting onto the field mouse, or the deep blue of dusk falling irrevocably across a silent camp. Here, violence is understood not as a charge, but as a gravity.
Etymology
From Middle English onfal, onfalle, equivalent to on- + fall. Cognate with Dutch aanval (“an attack, assault”), German Anfall (“an attack, seizure, fit”), Swedish anfall (“an attack, offensive, assault”). Compare also Middle English onfallynge (“an onslaught, attack”).
noun
- A falling on or upon; an attack, onset, or assault.“Are we to have military onfall; and death also by starvation?”
- A fall of rain or snow.
- The fall of the evening.
verb
- To fall on or upon.“[...] have been formed and ripened in large numbers, especially on the shaded ower sides of the leaves, the mycelium is practically exhausted, and as these processes are completed towards the end of the summer, the leaf so onfalls.”
- To assault, attack.