From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsortiesor‧tie1 /ˈsɔːti $ ˈsɔːrti/ noun [countable] 1 PMPa short flight made by a plane over enemy land, in order to bomb a city, military defences etc The US and its allies carried out 44,000 sorties during this period.2 TRAVELa short trip, especially to an unfamiliar place We made a sortie from our hotel to the open-air market.3 TRY TO DO OR GET something British English an attempt to do or take part in something newsortie into Australia’s first sortie into the wine trade4 PMA British English an attack in which an army leaves its position for a short time to attack the enemy
Examples from the Corpus
sortie• Not on that day or on any other day did he attempt such a sortie with me.• The Fortress, N620L, suffered a gear extension malfunction during an airborne sortie and could not extend its right main wheel.• Now everything was ready for the big sortie.• The reporters kept sending out the arithmetic of the Goddamned Middle East: sorties flown, bombs dropped, planes lost.• The enemy generally flew very few sorties at night.• George makes frequent sorties on his private jet.• Admiral Nagumo received word of his new assignment as he headed back from the futile sortie toward the Marshalls.• This same night saw three Swordfish of 830 Squadron out continuing a series of mine-laying sorties to Tripoli harbour.• The sortie with Black's bishop has cost him time and he has no tangible pressure on d4.• Only 24 aircraft were lost during these sorties.sortiesortie2 verb [intransitive] PMAPMPto make a short attack on an enemy position or a flight over enemy land It was five months since the battleship had last sortied from home waters.Origin sortie1 (1600-1700) French sortir “to go out” 