Definition of "cruise missile" [cruise missile]

• A guided missile that is launched from a ship or aircraft and serves as a self-contained precision bomb. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "They both had hoped to end the al-Qaeda problem by decapitating its leader through cruise missile strikes or by using CIA assets on the ground."
• "In June 1993, the president ordered a cruise missile attack on Husseins intelligence headquarters following the discovery of an Iraqi plot to assassinate former President George Bush."
• "They prepared instead only for possible U.S. cruise missile attacks or airstrikes by evacuating their training camps."