Definition of "attrit" []

• To lose (personnel, for example) by attrition. (verb-transitive)
• To destroy or kill (troops, for example) by use of firepower: "Pro-active counterattacks are a useful way to attrit the enemy” ( John H. Cushman, Jr.) (verb-transitive)

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.

• "Therefore, the verb 'attrit' can be modified in the following ways:"
• "The classic example is the use of SAMs by the Egyptians and Syrians in the 1973 Yom Kippur war to attrit Israeli airpower and interfere with its ability to support the ground defensive fighting by the Israeli Army."
• "Take Malaya, take Borneo and attrit the US forces on the Philippines."