\ koun-ter-blast \ ,
noun;
1.An unrestrained and vigorously powerful response to an attacking statement.
Quotes:
In my view it's really a matter of style. For getting me most effective counterblast , I mean. You don't want to counterblast them in their own style. They're to meeting such counterblasts , anyhow.
-- William Cooper, "You're Not Alone"
On 26 September 1920 Woolf wrote in her diary that she was 'making up a paper upon Women, as a counterblast to Mr Bennett's adverse views reported in the papers' and this turned into 'A Society'.
-- Virginia Woolf, introduction by David Bradshaw, "The Proper Stuff for Fiction," The Mark on the Wall
Origin:
Counterblast , predictably, comes from the roots "counter" and "blast." It came into common English usage in the 1560s. The prefix counter- originates in the Latin word contrā which meant "against, to return." Blast , on the other hand, originates in Old English, from the word blǽst , which meant "to blow."
