expression, godan verb (-u)
attack while someone is asleep; make a surprise attack
Fixed expression literally meaning 'attack someone's sleeping state'. Used for both literal attacks on sleeping people and figurative surprise attacks when the target is off guard.
敵は夜中に寝込みを襲ってきた。
The enemy attacked us while we were asleep in the middle of the night.
ライバル会社が新製品発
The rival company made a surprise price cut right before our new product launch, catching us off guard.