Etymology Inherited from Middle English scheten, schoten, from Old English scēotan, from Proto-West Germanic *skeutan, from Proto-Germanic *skeutaną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kéwd-e-ti, thematic present of *(s)kewd- (“to shoot, throw”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian sjitte, Low German scheten, Dutch schieten, German schießen, Danish skyde, Norwegian Bokmål skyte, Norwegian Nynorsk skyta, Swedish skjuta; and also, through Indo-European, with Russian кида́ть (kidátʹ), Albanian hedh (“to throw, toss”), Persian چست (čost, “quick, active”), Lithuanian skudrùs.
If you please / To shoot an arrow that self way.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
3
To fire a projectile at (a person or target).
The man, in a desperate bid for freedom, grabbed his gun and started shooting anyone he could.
The hunter shot the deer to harvest its meat.
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The unfortunate Divisional Director, responsible for the Emperor's safety, shot himself.1945 September and October, C. Hamilton Ellis, “Royal Trains—V”, in Railway Magazine, page 252:
Shepard: She's surrounded by geth and pointing a gun at us. Shoot her!2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Noveria:
I shoot Mr. Marlow twice, severing jugulars and cartoids with near surgical precision. He will die watching me take what is his away from him. This is my design.2013 April 4, Hannibal, season 1, episode 1, spoken by Will Graham (Hugh Dancy):
4
To cause a weapon to discharge a projectile.
They shot at a target.
He shoots better than he rides.
5
To hunt birds, etc. with a gun.
They're coming to shoot with us on Sunday.
The place was called the House of More, and I had shot at it once or twice in recent years.1899 January – 1902 January, John Buchan, “(please specify the page)”, in The Watcher by the Threshold, and Other Tales, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1902, →OCLC:
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To hunt on (a piece of land); to kill game in or on.
Although the estate had been shot previously, there had been no effective keepering and little success with the pheasants released.1969, Game Conservancy (Great Britain), Annual Review (issues 1-8, page 16)
Then, when it was his turn to shoot, he reached out with a completely empty hand and caught the dice the stickman threw to him.1980, John Scarne, Scarne on Dice, page 275:
"And now," I suggested, "I think it's about time we began to rough out a plan of campaign. Shall I throw around a few observations first?" […] Josella blew out a feather of smoke and took a sip of her drink. Savouring the flavour, she said: "I wonder whether we shall ever taste fresh oranges again? Okay, shoot."1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 92:
I had the pleasure of shooting Arnold Newman while teaching across the hall from him at a summer photo workshop.2006, Michael Grecco, Lighting and the Dramatic Portrait, Amphoto Books, →ISBN, page 68:
To push or thrust a bolt quickly; hence, to open a lock.
There was no answer, so I took the big key, rubbed some salad oil into the wards, and after one or two bad shots, for my hands were shaking, managed to fit it, and shoot the lock.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
› To move or act quickly or suddenly.
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To move very quickly and suddenly.
After an initial lag, the experimental group's scores shot past the control group's scores in the fourth week.
As soon as the dog appeared, the cat shot underneath the couch.
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There shot a streaming lamp along the sky.1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
It didn't take me long to get there. I shot past the head at a ripping rate, the current was so swift, and then I got into the dead water and landed on the side towards the Illinois shore.1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter VII, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC:
Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges[...]: or anon we shot into a clearing, with a colored glimpse of the lake and its curving shore far below us.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
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To go over or pass quickly through.
shoot the rapids
She […] shoots the Stygian sound.1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
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It was approaching the time when watermen would not shoot the bridge even without a passenger aboard.2005, R. G. Crouch, The Coat: The Origin and Times of Doggett's Famous Wager, page 40:
One of the fishermen was really stoked. He was trying to shoot the shore break in his canoe.1966, Bruce Brown, director, The Endless Summer:
18
To tip (something, especially coal) down a chute.
19
To penetrate, like a missile; to dart with a piercing sensation.
a shooting pain in my leg
Thy words shoot through my heart.1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 37:
20
Obsolete To feel a quick, darting pain; to throb in pain.
These preachers make / His head to shoot and ache.[1633], George Herbert, edited by [Nicholas Ferrar], The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC:
21
Obsolete To change form suddenly; especially, to solidify.
If the menstruum be overcharged, metals will shoot into crystals.1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
1802, Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query VII. The north-east [wind] is loaded with vapor, insomuch, that the salt-makers have found that their crystals would not shoot while that blows.
22
To send out or forth, especially with a rapid or sudden motion; to cast with the hand; to hurl; to discharge; to emit.
an honest weaver as ever shot shuttlec. 1608–1610, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “The Coxcomb”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
a pit into which the dead carts had nightly shot corpses by scores1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports To make the stated score.
In my round of golf yesterday I shot a 76.
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Geography, Natural sciences, Surveying To measure the distance and direction to (a point).
29
Colloquial To inject a drug (such as heroin) intravenously.
› To develop, move forward.
30
To germinate; to bud; to sprout.
Onions, as they hang, will shoot forth.1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
But the wild olive shoots, and shades the ungrateful plain.1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
31
To grow; to advance.
to shoot up rapidly
Well shot in years he seemed.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
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Delightful task! to rear the tender thought, / To teach the young idea how to shoot.a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:
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Nautical, Transport To move ahead by force of momentum, as a sailing vessel when the helm is put hard alee.
33
To travel or ride on (breaking waves) rowards the shore.
`Take the tiller, Mahomed!' I roared in Arabic. `We must try and shoot them.' At the same moment I seized an oar, and got it out, motioning to Job to do likewise.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
34
To push or thrust forward; to project; to protrude; often with out.
A plant shoots out a bud.
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 22:7:
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Beware the secret snake that shoots a sting.1697, Virgil, “Pastoral 3”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
35
To protrude; to jut; to project; to extend.
The land shoots into a promontory.
There is 432 Park Avenue, a surreal square tube of white concrete that appears to shoot twice as high as anything around it, its endless Cartesian grid of windows framing worlds of solid marble bathtubs and climate-controlled wine cellars within.2019 June 1, Oliver Wainwright, “Super-tall, super-skinny, super-expensive: the ‘pencil towers’ of New York’s super-rich”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Oct 2020:
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There shot up against the dark sky, tall, gaunt, straggling houses.1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “Chapter 49”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:
two Pieces of Wood are Shot (that is Plained) or else they are Pared [...] with a Pairing-chissel1677, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick Exercises: Or, The Doctrine of Handy-works:
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To variegate as if by sprinkling or intermingling; to color in spots or patches. (See shot silk on Wikipedia)
The tangled water-courses slept, / Shot over with purple, and green, and yellow.1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Dying Swan”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 54:
He tried to shoot the visual approach to runway 12, but the visibility was too low.
40
To carry out a seismic survey with geophones in an attempt to detect oil.
Once the area is ready to "shoot," the seismic crew places geophones and cables along the line of the profile to be recorded.1986, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Moratoria: Hearing, page 438:
41
To drink (a shot of an alcoholic beverage).
You can kiss a hundred boys in bars Shoot another shot, try to stop the feeling2024 April 5, Chappell Roan, Justin Tranter, Dan Nigro, “Good Luck, Babe!”performed by Chappell Roan:
Etymology Inherited from Middle English scheten, schoten, from Old English scēotan, from Proto-West Germanic *skeutan, from Proto-Germanic *skeutaną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kéwd-e-ti, thematic present of *(s)kewd- (“to shoot, throw”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian sjitte, Low German scheten, Dutch schieten, German schießen, Danish skyde, Norwegian Bokmål skyte, Norwegian Nynorsk skyta, Swedish skjuta; and also, through Indo-European, with Russian кида́ть (kidátʹ), Albanian hedh (“to throw, toss”), Persian چست (čost, “quick, active”), Lithuanian skudrùs.
The emerging stem and embryonic leaves of a new plant.
Prune off yet also superfluous branches, and shoots of this second spring.1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC:
From the bonfire of last autumn's HS2 decision, there are green shoots pushing through the ashes.2024 April 3, Philip Haigh, “Comment: A new, better version of HS2”, in RAIL, number 1006, page 3:
2
A photography session.
While you see some of our exploration on camera, I also spent many happy hours between shoots with Chris Nix, digging out dozens of wonderful plans, maps and drawings of projects that I never knew existed, and some that never did exist.2021 June 30, Tim Dunn, “How we made... Secrets of the London Underground”, in RAIL, number 934, page 50:
The act of shooting; the discharge of a missile; a shot.
The Turkish bow giveth a very forcible shoot.1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
One underneath his horse to get a shoot doth stalk.1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion:
Business, Mining A vein of ore running in the same general direction as the lode.
where to find a shoot of ore opposite one they may have taken away on a parallel lode1853, Thomas McElrath, William Jewett Tenney, William Phipps Blake, The Mining Magazine and Journal of Geology, Mineralogy, Metallurgy:
1901, Frank Lee Hess, pubs.usgs.gov report. Rare Metals. TIN, TUNGSTEN, AND TANTALUM IN SOUTH DAKOTA. In the western dike is a shoot about 4 feet in diameter carrying a considerable sprinkling of cassiterite, ore which in quantity would undoubtedly be worth mining. The shoot contains a large amount of muscovite mica with quartz and very little or no feldspar...
10
An inclined plane, either artificial or natural, down which timber, coal, ore, etc., are caused to slide; a chute.
That there was no evidence before the jury that at the time of the accident the timber shoot was worked by the defendant company.1891, New South Wales. Supreme Court, The New South Wales Law Reports, volume 12, page 238:
11
Card games, Games The act of taking all point cards in one hand.
12
A seismic survey carried out with geophones in an attempt to detect oil.
Once the last line of cable has been retrieved, there is little evidence that a shoot has been conducted.1980, The Williston Basin, 1980, page 159:
Didn't you have a concert tonight? —Shoot! I forgot! I have to go and get ready…
She practically stopped dancing, and started looking over everybody’s heads to see if she could see him. “Oh, shoot!” she said. I'd just about broken her heart—I really had.1951 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 96: