vollies

Updated: June 21, 2025

I scarce knew in what manner to receive them; but found to draw ourselves in a close line was the only way; so we formed in a moment; but, that we might not have too much interval, I ordered, that only every other man should fire; and that the others, who had not fired, should stand ready to give them a second volley immediately, if they continued to advance upon us; and that then those who had fired at first, should not pretend to load their fusils again, but stand ready, with every one a pistol, for we were all armed with a fusil and a pair of pistols each man; so we were, by this method, able to fire six vollies, half of us at a time; however, at present we had no necessity; for, upon firing the first volley, the enemy made a full stop, being terrified, as well with the noise as with the fire; four of them being shot in the head, dropped; several others were wounded, and went bleeding off, as we could see by the snow.

Daniel Defoe - The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1808)

On the way thither they buried William Cammock, one of their men, who had drunk too hard at La Serena "which produced in him a calenture or malignant fever, and a hiccough." "In the evening when the pale Magellan Clouds were showing we buried him in the sea, according to the usual custom of mariners, giving him three French vollies for his funeral."

John Masefield - On the Spanish Main: Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of Darien.

At this time most of the prisoners were in the prisons; a number with us ran up the market square, out of curiosity, to see what was the matter; there were about one hundred collected in the square, and a number were standing by the gates inside the prison yard; the soldiers were drawn up in the upper part of the square; orders were given them to charge, on which the prisoners retreated out of the square, and some of the last which came through the gates, shut them to; the soldiers then commenced firing on them through the iron pailings, and fired several vollies in succession.

Benjamin Waterhouse - A Journal of a Young Man of Massachusetts, 2nd ed.: Late A Surgeon On Board An American Privateer, Who Was: Captured At Sea By The British, In May, Eighteen Hundred: And Thirteen, And Was Confined First, At Melville Island,: Halifax, Then At Chatham, In England ... And Last, At: Dartmoor Prison. Interspersed With Observations, Anecdotes: And Remarks, Tending To Illustrate The Moral And Political: Characters Of Three Nations. To Which Is Added, A Correct: Engraving Of Dartmoor Prison, Representing The Massacre: Of American Prisoners, Written By Himself.

And rushing impetuously at Susarman, that foremost of car-warriors, king Yudhishthira, assailed him with vollies of shafts. And Susarman also, in great rage, quickly pierced Yudhishthira with nine arrows, and each of his four steeds with four arrows. Then, O king, Kunti's son Bhima of quick movements, approaching Susarman crushed his steeds.

- The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 2: Books 4, 5, 6 and 7

A little later, Mr, Turner attended a vestry meeting, at which "we had several warm arguments, and several vollies of execrable oaths oftentime redounded from almost all parts of the room. "About 4 P.M. I walked down to Whyly. We played at bragg the first part of the even.

Bayard Tuckerman - A History of English Prose Fiction