Home UK English blitz

Meaning of blitz in English:

blitz

Pronunciation /blɪts/

See synonyms for blitz

Translate blitz into Spanish

noun

  • 1An intensive or sudden military attack.

    ‘a heavy artillery blitz’
    • ‘I talk myself out of imagining world war-styled bombing blitzes or trench warfare, and replaced them with images of land mines and machine guns.’
    • ‘Barracks, garrisons, bivouacs and encampments thus far spared came under a blitz of laser-guided bombs first used in the Gulf War.’
    • ‘In December 1941 she had stood in the ruins of the Regimental Chapel after it was bombed during the blitz.’
    • ‘It was a dream compared to the air raids and blitz conditions she had had to put up with in London.’
    • ‘The London office had been bombed during the blitz.’
    • ‘But he fought them in Europe and my grandmother sat under the bombs during the blitz of London.’
    • ‘The excavation explored the 60th anniversary of the end of the second world war by uncovering a former Georgian terrace bombed in the blitz.’
    • ‘A 600 name petition was drawn up by residents who said match nights had become reminiscent of the wartime blitz.’
    • ‘The wall was inspired by a dusky wartime picture of London bolstered against the blitz in the Second World War.’
    • ‘A second blitz will be initiated by the authority in September.’
    • ‘The very fact that they had never endured a blitz or an invasion seemed to account for the obsessive fears of a nation always irrationally jumpy about its own security.’
    • ‘The 1948 Olympics were held in London to honor the survival of a city badly battered by the blitz.’
    • ‘I was five years old when the war began and I remember the blitz, when we spent so much time in the air raid shelters.’
    • ‘The constant bombing of the London in the blitz during World War Two are recounted at more than mere anniversaries of the event.’
    • ‘My dad told me about the first air-raids he experienced in London during the blitz.’
    • ‘At the height of the blitz he sometimes had to cycle through air raids to attend members of Churchill's wartime cabinet in their underground bunker.’
    • ‘My great aunt was 40 when she was pulled out of a bombed air raid shelter during the Clydebank blitz in March 1941.’
    • ‘As they used to say in the blitz when shops had been bombed, it is now more open than usual.’
    bombardment, battery, bombing, carpet bombing, onslaught, barrage, sally
    View synonyms
    1. 1.1the BlitzThe German air raids on Britain in 1940–1.

  • 2informal A sudden concerted effort to deal with something.

    • ‘Katrina and I had a blitz on the cleaning’
    • ‘A blitz on parking has almost doubled the number of parking tickets handed out to drivers, netting the local Council more than £1.5m.’
    • ‘New measures to control firework abuse were promised as part of a blitz on anti-social behaviour.’
    • ‘Last week I was having a bit of a blitz on residents permits and caught a black 3 series BMW with an out of date permit on the next door beat, two streets away.’
    • ‘While eight officers investigated the vehicles, officials from the Benefits Agency conducted checks as part of a blitz on benefit fraud.’
    • ‘A blitz on binge drinking this summer is underway.’
    • ‘Forty-two cars were clamped in a blitz on non-taxed vehicles.’
    • ‘Thousands of illegal fireworks have been seized in a blitz on shops.’
    • ‘Officers made 28 arrests over two weekends during a blitz on under-age drinking, drug taking and disorder plaguing parts of the city.’
    • ‘Police have launched a blitz on yobs who have been terrorising shoppers.’
    • ‘The drive to build a successful retail division will be supported by a major marketing blitz designed to increase the profile of the business.’
    • ‘It went out with a blitz of billboard and press advertising last week to create a sense of nostalgia for a lost form of popular culture.’
    • ‘The company planned to publicly announce the new lawn mower in a marketing blitz scheduled to occur six weeks later.’
    • ‘Had a major blitz on guests for next week's show.’
    • ‘Police dogs, traffic officers and a specialist off-road unit are to be used in a huge blitz on moped thefts.’
    • ‘Luckily, the developers of this game aren't relying on cross-selling and marketing blitzes.’
    • ‘The disappointing return from the publicity blitz was doubly concerning as it coincided with a buoyant period for the mobile phone industry generally.’
    • ‘It is part of a major blitz by road tax enforcers which will start on Monday.’
    • ‘Police have launched a major blitz on the town's teenage yobs.’
    • ‘Too many people lost money in the past for the company to risk targeting the public in a marketing blitz.’
    • ‘The television adverts released last week are one element of this marketing blitz.’
    all-out effort, effort, exertion, endeavour, onslaught, attack, push, thrust, set-to
    View synonyms
    1. 2.1American Football A play in which one or more defensive backs charge the quarterback of the opposing team.
      • ‘Mobility is supposed to be the key to success in the modern NFL, because of the blitzes thrown by opposing defenses.’
      • ‘In a time when blitzes have made quarterbacking a more precarious endeavor than ever, teams that do not possess two accomplished forward passers are at risk.’
      • ‘Will he be prepared for all the blitzes opposing defensive coordinators will throw at him?’
      • ‘He is frequently sent after the quarterback on middle blitzes yet has the quickness to cover receivers out of the backfield.’
      • ‘He also is adept at getting to the quarterback on blitzes.’

  • 3

    another term for lightning chess

    ‘One can well forgive an author for relying on internet blitz chess to research openings grandmasters hardly ever play.’
    • ‘Curiously, a blitz game I won gave me a lot of confidence and motivation, even though I won it purely by chance.’
    • ‘Many blitz games are 5 minutes per player for the entire game.’
    • ‘Back in the mid-Nineties, I played in a blitz tournament in Germany.’
    • ‘It is possible to organise some blitz tournaments (for fun) as well.’

verb

[with object]

  • 1Attack or seriously damage (a place) in a blitz.

    ‘news came that Rotterdam had been blitzed’
    • ‘she blitzed her own world record in the 400m freestyle’
    • ‘‘No one knocked on our door to tell us or see if we had any objections, now there are lorries half the size of the street that have just blitzed the place,’ he said.’
    • ‘Coalition forces had taken the country with relative ease, blitzing the landscape with bombs and then columns of military might.’
    • ‘Traffic wardens blitzed areas of the city this week, ticketing cars that hadn't been moved after four hours of parking.’
    • ‘There's more going on than just some new bosses blitzing the city.’
    • ‘Their marketing plan not only intends to blitz the globe with a massive advertising campaign, but will also saturate the domestic market right here at home.’
    • ‘Other new initiatives include setting up a new clean-up squad which will blitz areas within the intervention zones, and a project to help new residents coming to the borough settle in.’
    • ‘We should blitz the streets, targeting the problem areas when discos and takeaways close and schools.’
    • ‘It has seen a two thousand percent increase in speeding tickets and has plans to introduce 40 traffic-parking wardens to blitz the commercial areas.’
    • ‘Holyrood Church, fronting High Street was blitzed in the Second World War.’
    • ‘We are blitzing the whole area, but we are encouraging people to contact us if they know of areas where it is a problem.’
    • ‘As city after city was blitzed, there was some dismay, a little looting but, overall, a remarkable stoicism and sense of community.’
    • ‘Hundreds of thousands of Christmas shoppers blitzed the high street yesterday on the busiest shopping day of the year.’
    • ‘Alarmed by a spiralling number of muggings and thefts - particularly of mobile phones - hundreds of police in London are to blitz the streets.’
    • ‘He said it would be preferable if the council sent out letters in advance before they decide to blitz a particular area.’
    • ‘The council has hired a specialist company to blitz problem areas using hot water and a high-pressure lance.’
    • ‘A view of Victoria Street shows part of the cathedral and the Old Shambles area of the city blitzed by German bombers in the Second World War.’
    • ‘Along with blacksmiths, farriers and wheelwrights, they watched as the land was blitzed.’
    • ‘A team of 15 scouts are blitzing the city with flyers to tempt aspiring models into the shopping centres where entry photographs are being taken over the next two weeks.’
    • ‘Had Hitler not blitzed Rotterdam and then attacked France in the spring of 1940, the phony war might have remained just that.’
    • ‘Church Square was one of the first areas blitzed.’
    bombard, attack, pound, blast
    View synonyms

  • 2Process (food) in an electric mixing machine.

    ‘add the eggs and blitz the mixture until it becomes granular’
    • ‘An Asian food store should stock gram flour, otherwise use a powerful spice grinder and blitz some dried chickpeas until very fine.’
    • ‘You need a proper liquidiser, and you have to blitz the ingredients for a good couple of minutes.’
    • ‘In a liquidiser, blitz together fresh chilled mayonnaise with 6 garlic cloves, 1/2 jar of red peppers, 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.’
    • ‘Strain the vegetables, reserving the stock, and blitz the solids until smooth, gradually adding the stock back in.’
    • ‘Knock the chicken down into pieces, blitz all the other ingredients together, then making sure your maulers are perfectly clean, give the marinade a good rub over all the chicken.’
    • ‘Cook for two minutes, then put it in a food processor and blitz it to a purée.’

  • 3American Football
    Charge (the opposing team's quarterback) in a blitz.

    ‘The trademarks are quickness to the ball and aggressive pursuit of the quarterback by linemen and blitzing line-backers and defensive backs.’
    • ‘For example, you can take an inside linebacker and assign him to blitz the quarterback while you get a safety to cover the area he vacates.’
    • ‘They are utilizing his physical talents by playing him at the line, where he can play run support, blitz the quarterback and shadow underneath receivers.’
    • ‘He can line up as the eighth man in the box to help shut down the run or blitz the quarterback.’
    • ‘He must show he can block blitzing linebackers.’

Phrases

    Blitz spirit
    British

    • Stoicism and determination in a difficult or dangerous situation, especially as displayed by a group of people.

      ‘he urged the British public to show their Blitz spirit in the face of the recession’
      • ‘The past fortnight has had the subtle appeal of the Blitz spirit.’
      • ‘She is perhaps held in deepest affection by the war generation, for whom she was the personification of the Blitz spirit.’
      • ‘The prime minister has urged the British public to show their "Blitz spirit" in the face of the recession.’
      • ‘He said he had been astonished by the Blitz spirit of local people.’
      • ‘Of course Blair can't just conjure up a new Blitz spirit to suit his newfound focus on homeland security.’
      • ‘Possibly what's needed now is more of that Blitz spirit.’
      • ‘Were this to happen in London I'm not sure the ' Blitz spirit ' would hold out in quite the same way.’
      • ‘Time and again, flood victims have spoken of the revival of the "Blitz spirit" which is making their ordeal more bearable.’
      • ‘But we cannot go on congratulating ourselves for our forbearance, or Blitz spirit or reason in the face of madness.’
      • ‘Some of the broadcasters tried to invoke the Blitz spirit, suggesting that that would get London through.’

Origin

1930s abbreviation of blitzkrieg.