birdshot
nounEtymology From bird + shot.
1
Small lead or steel shot, as pieces of ammunition, used in shotgun shells.
- In the first shooting, four of the teenagers were sitting on a porch and were peppered with birdshot from a shotgun fired from a passing car around 2:30 p.m., Sheriff John Rutherford said.2007 May 2, “Florida Six Wounded in Shootings”, in New York Times, sourced from The Associated Press:
- “Eyes were hit by birdshot pellets and it was deliberate, they are shooting to kill,” said the Tehran doctor. A colleague added that they had removed “20 pellets” from the body of a single protester.2026 January 13, Deepa Parent, William Christou, “Hundreds of gunshot eye injuries found in one Iranian hospital amid brutal crackdown on protests”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
2
A rifle or pistol cartridge containing small shot instead of a single larger projectile.
- Related terms
- scattershot