From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishvolleyvol‧ley1 /ˈvɒli $ ˈvɑːli/ noun [countable] 1 PMWSHOOTa large number of bullets, rocks etc shot or thrown through the air at the same timevolley of a volley of bullets2 LOT/LARGE NUMBER OR AMOUNTa lot of questions, insults, attacks etc that are all said or made at the same timevolley of a volley of abuse3 DSa hit in tennis, a kick in football etc when the player hits or kicks the ball before it touches the ground
Examples from the Corpus
volley• The soldiers fired a volley into the air as a warning to the crowd.• Before it was lowered into the ground, a volley of shots was fired over the General's coffin.• Supper was a rattle and volley of opinions, reminders, acknowledgments, and discoveries of shared tastes.• The roar of artillery grew more distinct, mingled with the continuous volleys of musketry.• Like Chrissie Evert executing an effortless backhand crosscourt volley at Wimbledon, Perdita shot forward and whacked the ball home.• It held up in the water, throwing the Luton defence off balance and enabling Black to drive home a left-footed volley.• You sometimes see volleys go in like it ... but never a dead ball situation.• Perhaps, years later, children would finally get the chance to engage in a tennis volley.• I am assailed by the usual volley of self-accusations: What am I looking for anyway?volley of• a volley of accusationsvolleyvolley2 verb 1 [intransitive, transitive]DS to hit or kick a ball before it touches the ground, especially in tennis or football2 [intransitive]PMWSHOOT if a large number of guns volley, they are all fired at the same time→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
volley• On Monday he was using all his tennis skills to volley a series of determined media attacks.• Advice started to volley back and forth.• Where couldn't he volley because of his own weaknesses or patterns.• A beautiful cross in from the left, a dummy by Speed, leaving Wallace to volley home.Origin volley1 (1500-1600) French volée “flight”, from voler “to fly”, from Latin volare 