n. A general discharge of guns; a rattling volley; a general “blazing away.” See extract.n. Hence—2. Figuratively, a volley; a sudden (oratorical) attack; an overwhelming retort.n. 3. A gale or hurricane accompanied by intense cold and dry, driving snow, common in winter on the great plains of the States and Territories of the northwestern United States east of the Rocky Mountains, especially Dakota, and in Manitoba in British America.