shoot
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: sho͞ot
ipa: /ʃuːt/
rhymes: -uːt
homophone: chute
Forms: form: shoots
form: shooting
form: shot
form: shot
form: shotten
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: shoot
form: shoot
form: shot
form: shooted
form: shoot
form: shootest
form: shot
form: shooted
form: shootedst
form: shoots
form: shooteth
form: shot
form: shooted
form: shoot
form: shot
form: shooted
form: shoot
form: shot
form: shooted
form: shoot
form: -
form: shooting
form: shot
form: shooted
form: shotten
Etymology: From Middle English shoten, from Old English scēotan, from Proto-West Germanic *skeutan, from Proto-Germanic *skeutaną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kéwd-e-ti, from *(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.
Senses: examples: text: to shoot a gun
glosses: To launch (forcefully project) a projectile.
To fire (a weapon that releases a projectile).
examples: text: If you please / To shoot an arrow that self way.
ref: 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]:
glosses: To launch (forcefully project) a projectile.
To fire (a projectile).
synonyms: word: loose
english: of an arrow
translation: of an arrow
examples: text: The man, in a desperate bid for freedom, grabbed his gun and started shooting anyone he could.
text: The hunter shot the deer to harvest its meat.
text: The unfortunate Divisional Director, responsible for the Emperor's safety, shot himself.
ref: 1945 September and October, C. Hamilton Ellis, “Royal Trains—V”, in Railway Magazine, page 252:
text: Shepard: She's surrounded by geth and pointing a gun at us. Shoot her!
ref: 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Noveria:
text: 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.
ref: 2013 April 4, Hannibal, season 1, episode 1, spoken by Will Graham (Hugh Dancy):
glosses: To launch (forcefully project) a projectile.
To fire a projectile at (a person or target).
examples: text: They shot at a target.
text: He shoots better than he rides.
glosses: To launch (forcefully project) a projectile.
To cause a weapon to discharge a projectile.
examples: text: They're coming to shoot with us on Sunday.
text: The place was called the House of More, and I had shot at it once or twice in recent years.
ref: 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:
glosses: To launch (forcefully project) a projectile.
To hunt birds, etc. with a gun.
examples: text: Although the estate had been shot previously, there had been no effective keepering and little success with the pheasants released.
ref: 1969, Game Conservancy (Great Britain), Annual Review (issues 1-8, page 16)
glosses: To launch (forcefully project) a projectile.
To hunt on (a piece of land); to kill game in or on.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1980, John Scarne, Scarne on Dice, page 275:
topics: gambling
games
glosses: To launch (forcefully project) a projectile.
To throw dice.
examples: text: After a very short time, he shot his load over the carpet.
glosses: To launch (forcefully project) a projectile.
To ejaculate.
examples: text: "Can I ask you a question?" "Shoot."
glosses: To launch (forcefully project) a projectile.
To begin to speak.
raw_tags: as imperative
examples: text: The gun shoots well.
glosses: To launch (forcefully project) a projectile.
To discharge a missile; said of a weapon.
examples: text: His idea was shot on sight.
glosses: To launch (forcefully project) a projectile.
To dismiss or do away with.
examples: text: He shot the couple in a variety of poses.
text: He shot seventeen stills.
text: I had the pleasure of shooting Arnold Newman while teaching across the hall from him at a summer photo workshop.
ref: 2006, Michael Grecco, Lighting and the Dramatic Portrait, Amphoto Books, →ISBN, page 68:
glosses: To launch (forcefully project) a projectile.
To photograph.
qualifier: analogous
examples: text: The film was mostly shot in France.
topics: broadcasting
film
media
television
glosses: To launch (forcefully project) a projectile.
To film.
qualifier: analogous
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
glosses: To launch (forcefully project) a projectile.
To push or thrust a bolt quickly; hence, to open a lock.
examples: text: After an initial lag, the experimental group's scores shot past the control group's scores in the fourth week.
text: There shot a streaming lamp along the sky.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
glosses: To move or act quickly or suddenly.
To move very quickly and suddenly.
examples: text: shoot the rapids
text: She […] shoots the Stygian sound.
ref: 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:
text: It was approaching the time when watermen would not shoot the bridge even without a passenger aboard.
ref: 2005, R. G. Crouch, The Coat: The Origin and Times of Doggett's Famous Wager, page 40:
glosses: To move or act quickly or suddenly.
To go over or pass quickly through.
examples: text: One of the fishermen was really stoked. He was trying to shoot the shore break in his canoe.
ref: 1966, Bruce Brown, director, The Endless Summer:
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
surfing
glosses: To move or act quickly or suddenly.
To ride a wave.
glosses: To move or act quickly or suddenly.
To tip (something, especially coal) down a chute.
examples: text: a shooting pain in my leg
text: Thy words shoot through my heart.
ref: 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene iii, page 1:
glosses: To move or act quickly or suddenly.
To penetrate, like a missile; to dart with a piercing sensation.
examples: text: These preachers make / His head to shoot and ache.
ref: [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:
glosses: To move or act quickly or suddenly.
To feel a quick, darting pain; to throb in pain.
examples: text: If the menstruum be overcharged, metals will shoot into crystals.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
glosses: To move or act quickly or suddenly.
To change form suddenly; especially, to solidify.
examples: text: an honest weaver as ever shot shuttle
ref: c. 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):
text: a pit into which the dead carts had nightly shot corpses by scores
ref: 1849–1861, 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:
glosses: To move or act quickly or suddenly.
To send out or forth, especially with a rapid or sudden motion; to cast with the hand; to hurl; to discharge; to emit.
examples: text: I'll shoot you an email with all the details
glosses: To move or act quickly or suddenly.
To send to someone.
topics: government
hobbies
lifestyle
martial-arts
military
politics
sports
war
wrestling
glosses: To act or achieve.
To lunge.
topics: government
hobbies
lifestyle
martial-arts
military
politics
professional-wrestling
sports
war
wrestling
glosses: To act or achieve.
To deviate from kayfabe, either intentionally or accidentally; to actually connect with unchoreographed fighting blows and maneuvers, or speak one's mind (instead of an agreed script).
examples: text: In my round of golf yesterday I shot a 76.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To act or achieve.
To make the stated score.
topics: geography
natural-sciences
surveying
glosses: To measure the distance and direction to (a point).
synonyms: fix
glosses: To inject a drug (such as heroin) intravenously.
examples: text: Onions, as they hang, will shoot forth.
ref: 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:
text: But the wild olive shoots, and shades the ungrateful plain.
ref: 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:
glosses: To develop, move forward.
To germinate; to bud; to sprout.
examples: text: to shoot up rapidly
text: Well shot in years he seemed.
ref: 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
text: Delightful task! to rear the tender thought, / To teach the young idea how to shoot.
ref: a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:
glosses: To develop, move forward.
To grow; to advance.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: To develop, move forward.
To move ahead by force of momentum, as a sailing vessel when the helm is put hard alee.
examples: text: `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.
ref: 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
glosses: To develop, move forward.
To travel or ride on (breaking waves) rowards the shore.
examples: text: A plant shoots out a bud.
text: They shoot out the lip, they shake the head.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 22:7:
text: Beware the secret snake that shoots a sting.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “Pastoral 3”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To develop, move forward.
To push or thrust forward; to project; to protrude; often with out.
examples: text: The land shoots into a promontory.
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: There shot up against the dark sky, tall, gaunt, straggling houses.
ref: 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “Chapter 49”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:
glosses: To protrude; to jut; to project; to extend.
examples: text: two Pieces of Wood are Shot (that is Plained) or else they are Pared [...] with a Pairing-chissel
ref: 1677, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick Exercises: Or, The Doctrine of Handy-works:
topics: business
carpentry
construction
manufacturing
glosses: To plane straight; to fit by planing.
examples: text: The tangled water-courses slept, / Shot over with purple, and green, and yellow.
ref: 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Dying Swan”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 54:
glosses: To variegate as if by sprinkling or intermingling; to color in spots or patches. (See shot silk on Wikipedia)
topics: card-games
games
glosses: To shoot the moon.
examples: text: He tried to shoot the visual approach to runway 12, but the visibility was too low.
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To carry out, or attempt to carry out (an approach to an airport runway).
examples: text: Once the area is ready to "shoot," the seismic crew places geophones and cables along the line of the profile to be recorded.
ref: 1986, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Moratoria: Hearing, page 438:
glosses: To carry out a seismic survey with geophones in an attempt to detect oil.
examples: text: You can kiss a hundred boys in bars
Shoot another shot, try to stop the feeling
ref: 2024 April 5, Chappell Roan, Justin Tranter, Dan Nigro, “Good Luck, Babe!”performed by Chappell Roan:
glosses: To drink (a shot of an alcoholic beverage).
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: angle-shoot
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: bullet-shooting crossbow
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: crapshoot
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: don't shoot the messenger
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: gut-shoot
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: I hope I may be shot
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: I'll be shot
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: I've been shot
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: I wish I may be shot
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: just shoot me
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: like shooting fish in a barrel
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: look-down, shoot-down
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: outshoot
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: photo shoot
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: point-and-shoot
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: re-shoot
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot a bird
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot and protect
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot an elephant with a BB gun
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot a rope
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot around
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot back
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot blanks
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot daggers
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot down
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shootee
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot-'em-up
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shooter
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot first and ask questions later
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot for the moon
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot for the stars
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot from the hip
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot from the lip
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot holes
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot me
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot off
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot off at the mouth
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot off one's mouth
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot one in the sink
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot one's bolt
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot one's cuffs
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot oneself in the foot
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot one's load
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot one's mouth off
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot one's shot
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot one's wad
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot out
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot someone straight
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot the boots
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot the breeze
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot the bull
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot the cat
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot-the-chute
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot the five
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot the lens
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot the messenger
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot the moon
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot the shit
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot through
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot through like a Bondi tram
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot trouble
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shoot up
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shooty
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shot-on-video
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shot out
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shot through with
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: shot with a shovel
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: snap shoot
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: so shoot me
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: straight-shooting
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: troubleshoot
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: when the looting starts, the shooting starts
sense: Terms derived from shoot (verb)
word: who shot John