ricochet

ricochet
    n 1: a glancing rebound [syn: {ricochet}, {carom}]
    v 1: spring back; spring away from an impact; "The rubber ball
         bounced"; "These particles do not resile but they unite
         after they collide" [syn: {bounce}, {resile}, {take a hop},
         {spring}, {bound}, {rebound}, {recoil}, {reverberate},
         {ricochet}]
    

Ricochet \Ric`o*chet"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Ricochetted}; p.
   pr. & vb. n. {Ricochetting}.]
   To operate upon by ricochet firing. See {Ricochet}, n. [R.]
   [1913 Webster]
    

Ricochet \Ric`o*chet"\, v. i.
   To skip with a rebound or rebounds, as a flat stone on the
   surface of water, or a cannon ball on the ground. See
   {Ricochet}, n.
   [1913 Webster]
    

Ricochet \Ric`o*chet"\, n. [F.]
   1. A rebound or skipping, as of a bullet bouncing off a hard
      surface, or off the ground when a gun is fired at a low
      angle of elevation, or of a flat stone thrown along the
      surface of water.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A peculiar gait used by certain animals such as the
      kangaroo who move by a type of bouncing motion.
      [PJC]

            Kangaroos and wallabies (macropodids) as well as
            kangaroo mice and jerboas, locate themselves
            differently, though, and do not use the forelimbs at
            all in their distinctive modus locatus, to which
            Muybridge applied the term "ricochet", . . . --Jaime
                                                  A. Headden
      [PJC]

   {Ricochet firing} (Mil.), the firing of guns or howitzers,
      usually with small charges, at an elevation of only a few
      degrees, so as to cause the balls or shells to bound or
      skip along the ground.
      [1913 Webster]
    

35 Moby Thesaurus words for "ricochet":
      backfire, backlash, backlashing, boomerang, bounce, bounce back,
      bound, bound back, cannon, cannon off, carom, contrecoup, dap,
      fly back, graze, have repercussions, kick, kick back, kickback,
      lash back, rebound, rebuff, recalcitrate, recalcitration, recoil,
      repercuss, repercussion, repulse, resile, resilience, skim, skip,
      snap back, spring, spring back