Definition of "cannonade" [can•non•ade]

• To assault with heavy artillery fire. (verb-transitive)
• To deliver heavy artillery fire. (verb-intransitive)
• An extended, usually heavy discharge of artillery. (noun)
• A harsh verbal or physical attack. (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.

• "But I hadn't time to feel too satisfied, for in that moment there was a new thunderous cannonade from the Russians, much closer now; the whistle of shot sounded overhead, there was a great babble of shouting and orders from the cavalry behind me, the calls of the Lights and Heavies sounded, and the whole mass of our horse began to move off westward, retiring again."
• "Clouds of brown smoke from burning corn and the thatched root's of villages rolled across the battlefield under a gentle westerly breeze, streaked at intervals with the black, oily discharge of a flaming tank; the continuous rattle and chatter of small-arms fire was overlaid by a steady cannonade from the Russian 76-mm. 's and the scream of Katyusha rockets; periodically the high-pitched slap of the 88-mm. 's told of the Tigers 'defending themselves some three to four miles away."
• "What air there was might touch all alike, but would affect least the "Lawrence," "Detroit," and "Queen Charlotte," because their sails were being rent; and also they were in the centre of the cannonade, which is believed usually to kill the breeze."