blitz

See also: Blitz

English

Etymology

Clipping of blitzkrieg, from German Blitzkrieg (literally “lightning war”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /blɪts/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Rhymes: -ɪts

Noun

blitz (countable and uncountable, plural blitzes)

(countable) A sudden attack, especially an air raid; usually with reference to the Blitz.
(countable) A swift and overwhelming attack or effort.
We embarked on a publicity blitz, putting posters and flyers all around town.
- 2018 April 10, Daniel Taylor, “Liverpool go through after Mohamed Salah stops Manchester City fightback”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:
  Ultimately, though, Liverpool had inflicted a grievous result in the first leg when they scored three times in a 19-minute blitz and, importantly, did not concede an away goal.
- 2021 March 25, Koichi Nakano, “The Olympics Are On! But Why?”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:
  He [Yoshihide Suga] seems to be counting on a media blitz with feel-good effects around the Games to improve his sagging popularity.
- 2021 June 22, Nicholas Fandos, “Republicans Block Voting Rights Bill, Dealing Blow to Biden and Democrats”, in The New York Times‎^[3]:
  Liberal activists promised a well-funded summertime blitz, replete with home-state rallies and million-dollar ad campaigns, to try to ramp up pressure on a handful of Senate Democrats opposed to changing the rules.
- 2025 May 24, Stephen Morris, Melissa Heikkilä, Cristina Criddle, “Defending the high ground”, in FT Weekend, Big Read, page 7:
  As well as its revamped search bar, Google unveiled a blitz of other innovations that point to the longer-term evolution of the product.
(countable, American football) A play in which additional defenders beyond the defensive linemen rush the passer.
(uncountable, chess) Ellipsis of blitz chess.
- 2013 June 24, Mark Samuelian, “Speed Chess Changed My Brain”, in The Atlantic‎^[4]:
  What I had played was chess. Specially, I knocked out some 2,000 games of speed (or "blitz") chess in the two months leading up to the tournament. In fact, I played so much that I'm currently in the top half-percent of more than 1.3 million of blitz players at an online chess competition site.
- 2015, Mark Dvoretsky, For Friends and Colleagues, volume 2 (Reflections on My Profession):
  In order to avoid misunderstanding, I must note that I object to the attempts to displace normal chess with fast play, not rapid or blitz in general. I love them both, and, if I were to choose which to play, classic or rapid, I would choose rapid.
(cooking) The act of blending or puréeing food using a blender or processor.
(fishing) An occurrence in which large numbers of fish, typically striped bass or bluefish, feed on a school of baitfish, typically one in which the occurrence can be seen from the surface.

Derived terms

Translations

swift and overwhelming attack

Finnish: salamahyökkäys
German: Blitzkrieg (de)
Kyrgyz: чагылгандай согуш күтүүсүз кол салуу
Russian: внезапное нападение n
Spanish: relámpago (es) m

American football play

Spanish: carga (es) f

Verb

blitz (third-person singular simple present blitzes, present participle blitzing, simple past and past participle blitzed)

(transitive) To attack quickly or suddenly, as by an air raid or similar action.
Synonym: charge
- 1990 February 4, Chrystos, “Headaches And Ruminations”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 29, page 9:
  So the question remains — what to do with ignorance, which I must presume is deliberate, as in this media-blitzed era it is not possible to be truly ignorant after age 12.
(intransitive, American football) To perform a blitz.
The Washington High defense almost always blitzes on third down.
(transitive, cooking) To purée or chop (food products) using a food processor or blender.
Synonym: zhoosh

To make nut roast, you have to blitz the nuts in the food processor before adding the parsley and breadcrumbs.
(transitive, informal) To do something quickly or in one session.
Synonyms: hurry, zoom; see also Thesaurus:rush