assault vs hit

assault

verb
  • To attack, physically or figuratively; to assail. 

  • To threaten or harass. 

noun
  • A non-competitive combat between two fencers. 

  • A violent onset or attack with physical means, for example blows, weapons, etc. 

  • A violent verbal attack, for example with insults, criticism, and the like 

  • An act that causes someone to apprehend imminent bodily harm (such as brandishing a weapon). 

  • An attempt to commit battery: a violent attempt, or willful effort with force or violence, to do hurt to another, but without necessarily touching the person, such as by raising a fist in a threatening manner, or by striking at the person and missing. 

  • The tort whose action is such an act. 

  • The crime whose action is such an attempt. 

hit

verb
  • To attack, especially amphibiously. 

  • To inhale an amount of smoke from a narcotic substance, particularly marijuana. 

  • To come up to bat. 

  • To have sex with. 

  • To attack. 

  • To affect negatively. 

  • To strike against something. 

  • To kill a person, usually on the instructions of a third party. 

  • In blackjack, to deal a card to. 

  • to work out 

  • To manage to touch (a target) in the right place. 

  • To administer a blow to, directly or with a weapon or missile. 

  • To guess; to light upon or discover. 

  • To meet or reach what was aimed at or desired; to succeed, often by luck. 

  • To switch on. 

  • To affect someone, as if dealing a blow to that person. 

  • To reach or achieve. 

  • To use; to connect to. 

  • (of an exercise) to affect, to work a body part. 

  • To take up, or replace by a piece belonging to the opposing player; said of a single unprotected piece on a point. 

  • To briefly visit. 

  • To come into contact with forcefully and suddenly. 

  • To activate a button or key by pressing and releasing it. 

  • To encounter an obstacle or other difficulty. 

adj
  • Very successful. 

noun
  • The hit was very slight. 

  • A measured visit to a web site, a request for a single file from a web server. 

  • A blow; a punch; a striking against; the collision of one body against another; the stroke that touches anything. 

  • A match found by searching a computer system or search engine 

  • An approximately correct answer in a test set. 

  • Something very successful, such as a song, film, or video game, that receives widespread recognition and acclaim. 

  • An attack on a location, person or people. 

  • The complete play, when the batter reaches base without the benefit of a walk, error, or fielder’s choice. 

  • A dose of an illegal or addictive drug. 

  • A premeditated murder done for criminal or political purposes. 

  • A move that throws one of the opponent's men back to the entering point. 

  • A collision of a projectile with the target. 

  • In the game of Battleship, a correct guess at where one's opponent ship is. 

  • A game won after the adversary has removed some of his men. It counts for less than a gammon. 

pron
  • It. 

How often have the words assault and hit occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )