| 释义 |
▪ I. shoot, n.1|ʃuːt|
Forms: 6 s(c)hute, 6 schote, 5 schoyt, 6 shote, 6 showt, 6–7 shoote, 7 shout, 5– shoot.
[f. shoot v.
In early examples it is sometimes difficult to distinguish this word from certain other derivatives of the same root. In the early 16th c. the spellings shote and shoot(e are both ambiguous, so that only the shade of meaning can determine whether the word is shoot (rhyming with root) f. the pres.-stem of the vb., or the older shote (rhyming with throat). The 16th c. examples of the spelling s(c)hute belong to the present word, but down to the 14th c. this spelling (with u = ü) represents the OE. scyte: see shute n.]
1. a. An act of shooting (with fire-arms, a bow, etc.); a discharge of arrows, bullets, etc.: = shot n. Now only arch.
1534More Comf. agst. Trib. i. Wks. 1157/2 This marke..we shal nowe meate for the shoote and consider..how farre of your arrowes are from the prik. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. i. (Arb.) 89 The strongest men, do not drawe alwayes the strongest shoote. Ibid. ii. 107 For in a rayne and at no marke, a man may shote a faire shoote. 1546Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 250 Tomorrow..I must..ride to Tankerslay..& mete my Lord of Shrewsburry, who will be thear tomorrow by ij of the clock, & se a showt at a stage [= stag]. 1565Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Conficere, He killed twelue at .xii. shootes. 1583B. Melbancke Philotimus R iv b, O that I mighte haue a shoote at one of the Deares in his Parke. 1629Wadsworth Pilgr. iv. 35 In 12 shootes more they strooke downe our maine Mast. 1676Shotterel & Durfey Archerie reviv'd 78 If in measuring a Shoot, the Mark be stirred out of its place, he loseth the Shoot that removed it. 1692R. L'Estrange Fables lxvi. 65 As a Country Fellow was making a Shoot at a Pigeon. 1775Pennsylvania Even. Post 30 Nov. 551/1 The riflemen..declare that they can hit a man every shoot if within two hundred and fifty yards. 1801T. Roberts Engl. Bowman 293 A Shoot, an arrow shot. 1888Stevenson Black Arrow Prol. 8 How many a rogue would give his two crop ears to have a shoot at either of us! Ibid. v. vi. 306, I have two score men at my whistle, and with one shoot of arrows I could answer for you all.
fig.1590Cobler of Canterb. 2 All men..saide, that he [Chaucer] shot a shoote which many haue aimed at but neuer reacht to. 1682Dryden & Lee Dk. Guise i. i, Pol. But one prime Article of our holy League, Is to preserve the King, his Power and Person Cur. That must be said, you know, for Decency; A pretty Blind to make the Shoot secure.
†b. Range, distance or reach of a shot; shooting distance. Obs.
1530Sir D. Lyndesay Test. Papyngo 941 They haue ane Boumbard..Within quhose schote there dar no Enimeis Approche thare place. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. i. (Arb.) 33 There was nothing within his retche and shote. 1613Beaum. & Fl. Hon. Man's Fort. iv. ii, Hence, and take the wings of thy black Infamy, to carry thee beyond the shoot of looks, Or sound of curses. 1641Earl of Monmouth tr. Biondi's Civil Warres iv. 64 Chartier brings the two Armies face to face within the shoote of a Culverin. 1676Acc. Exam. Joan Perry 3 He went again with him about a Bows shoot into the Fields. a1700Evelyn Diary Apr. 1646, Nor could we any where see above a pistol shoote before us. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 236 So that I might come within shoot of them before I should be discover'd.
†c. Weapons for shooting, firearms. Obs.
1469Paston Lett. III. 372 That, with ther gret multitude of gannes [sic], with other shoot and ordynaunce, ther shall no man dar appere in the place.
†d. A charge (of powder). Obs.
1645Symonds Diary (Camden) 276 Their ammunition was so spent that the enemy gave the soldjer many shootes of powder to make the conditions good.
e. A game-shooting expedition; the result of such an expedition.
1852Viscountess Canning in Hare Story Two Noble Lives (1893) I. 360 The Prince is much pleased with his shoot this year. One day he killed five stags. 1877‘Wildfowler’ Shooting Trips Ser. ii. II. 99 We should arrive at Ford in time for a stroll and a ‘shoot’ along the river Arun. 1895Sir W. W. Hunter Old Missionary iii. 59 Their return..was celebrated by a big shoot in the jungle.
f. A shooting party.
1885Field 4 Apr. 446/1 At a big shoot in Warwickshire. 1894‘J. S. Winter’ Red Coats 69 Miss Dawson..gave big dinners and big shoots.
g. The right to shoot game in a given area; also the area itself.
1861Mrs. Jenkin Who Breaks Pays II. 93, I hear Sir Frederick a taken the shoot hisself, and bought Bill Fordham's black hunter. 1892Greener Breech-Loader 221 The sportsman whose shoot is small and the game..scarce and wild, will be unable to practise driving to any advantage. 1900Field 29 Sept. Advt. p. vi/2 Wanted, a good rough shoot, commencing season 1901–1902, on Lease; plenty of rabbits essential; 2000 to 5000 acres.
h. A shooting match or contest; a round of shots in such a contest.
1892Greener Breech-Loader 102 Some men who attend second-rate pigeon shoots and do not take their own guns. 1892Times 23 July 6/1 Volunteer Aggregate... One shoot at 200, one at 500, and three at 600 yards. Seven shots at each. 1894Daily News 12 June 8/6 The full scores of the first ‘shoot’ for places in the ‘English Twenty’ at Bisley.
i. transf. The action of shooting a film. Cf. shoot v. 22 f.
1929Morning Post 24 May 12/7 A Wembly ‘Shoot’ Described... A ‘talkie’ sequence is being ‘shot’ in the studio. 1978Broadcast 13 Nov. 24/1 Had you crewed in features or television productions and then suddenly found yourself part of a commercial shoot?
j. Mil. An act of bombardment; esp., an exercise in which anti-aircraft drill is practised.
1941Hutchinson's Pictorial Hist. War July-Sept. (caption) 162 Bofors guns, of proved efficiency against low-flying aircraft, are included in Malaya's defence programme... A practice shoot is in progress. 1961B. Fergusson Watery Maze xiv. 344 The prize shoot was executed by Ajax and Argonaut on a troublesome battery at Longues. 1977R.A.F. News 8–21 June 11/2 Such blank days, and other times when ‘shoots’ are cancelled..can be as disappointing and frustrating to the range team as to the fliers and their units.
2. a. The action of shooting, sprouting, or growing; the amount of growth (also concr. the new wood, etc. produced) in a certain period. Also † the mounting or rising (of the sap).
1572L. Mascall Plant. & Graff. (1592) 9 For to set the Pine tree, ye must set or plant them of Nuts, in March, or about the shoote of the sappe. 1661Boyle Certain Physiol. Ess. (1669) 92 Others content themselves to chuse a hazel rod (which some will have to be all of the same years shoot). 1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. Jan. (1679) 8 Cut off all the shoot of August, unless the nakedness of the place incline you to spare it. 1733W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 266 The Clover makes a quick Shoot, and will get a large second Head. 1832Boston Herald 8 May 3/5 The shoot of Spring grass is also unusually late, and slow in vegetation. 1896Daily News 19 Sept. 2/5 The crops presented at harvest what to agriculturists is known as ‘two shoots’, i.e., a crop composed of ripe and also unripe grain.
b. A young branch which shoots out from the main stock of a tree, plant, etc.
a1450Fysshynge w. Angle (1883) 8 Take a feyr schoyt of blake thorne. 1578Lyte Dodoens i. liv. 80 This plante [Linaria] hath diuers small shutes or scourges bearing small narrow leaues. 1634Milton Comus 296, I saw them under a green mantling vine..Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots. 1720P. Blair Bot. Ess. i. 10 If it be put into a Pot, and all its Stolones or Shoots be taken off. 1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 81 Shoot (surculus) the branch of a Moss. 1812New Bot. Gard. I. 6 The French in Canada eat the tender shoots in spring as Asparagus. 1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 497 Cut smooth the lower end of the shoot or cutting, and stick it into fine leaf or other rich mould about an inch deep. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola viii, The fresh shoots among the darker green of the oak. 1909J. G. Frazer Psyche's Task iv. 38 The shoots of the sweet potato had flowered and withered long ago.
c. fig. An offshoot; a growth or sprout from a main stock.
c1610Women Saints 71 Kinesburge and Kineswide were daughters to Penda, a Pagan thoughe king of Mercia, holie shootes of a dead stocke or truncke. 1749Smollett Gil Blas xii. v. (1782) IV. 237 His excellency..immediately sent for his equivocal heir, and new shoot from the trunk of the Guzmans. 1833Longfellow Outre-Mer, Sexagenarian, Monsieur d'Argentville was a shoot from a wealthy family of Nantes. 1882Child Eng. & Sc. Pop. Ball. I. 51/1 The ballad we are dealing with is a wild shoot from the story of Judith and Holofernes. 1899J. Mathew Eagle Hawk & Crow ii. 9 Upon the aboriginal Australian stock there was grafted a strong Malayo-Dravidian shoot.
d. transf.
1611Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 128 Thou want'st a rough pash & the shoots that I haue To be full, like me. 1671Grew Anat. Pl. i. iv. (1682) 28 Those Fibrous Shoots which run along the Pith in the Root. 1822–29Good's Study Med. (ed. 3) I. 531 It is better..to distinguish by the phrase polypous tumours, caruncles, or shoots, such adscititious productions as may have a resemblance to them [i.e. to nasal polypi] in other organs. 1847Prescott Peru iii. i. (1862) II. 14 Ridges of barren land, that seemed like shoots of the adjacent Andes. 1851S. P. Woodward Mollusca i. 18 The oyster continues enlarging his shell by annual ‘shoots’ for four or five years. 1861The Oyster 35 These [overlapping plates forming an oyster-shell] are technically termed ‘shoots’, and each of them marks a year's growth.
e. Applied to the forms of crystals ? likened to those of a plant. Cf. shoot v.
a1728Woodward Nat. Hist. Fossils i. (1729) I. 158 Spar of a yellow Hue, shot into numerous trigonal pointed Shoots of various Sizes. Ibid., Hexangular Sprigs or Shoots of Crystal of various Sizes. 1748Phil. Trans. XLV. 364 He tried Alum, which fully answered everything he proposed; for it restored the Salt to its natural cubical Shoot.
3. a. A motion or movement (of a thing) as though shooting or being shot in a particular direction; also the space or distance covered by such a motion or by a push; spec. (see quot. 1903).
c1596Sir T. More iv. iii. 20 Thence some slight shoote Being carried by the waues, our boate stood still Iust opposite the Tower. a1658Lovelace The Falcon x, The Falcon charges at first view With her brigade of Talons; through Whose Shoots, the wary Heron beat, With a well counter-wheel'd retreat. 1863Hawthorne Old Home, Up Thames II. 130 [The journey by river is] far preferable to the brief, yet tiresome shoot along the railway track. 1869‘Wat. Bradwood’ The O.V.H. xxx, They have nearly completed the shoot to the Middlesex shore [in the University boat-race]. 1881Macdonald Mary Marston II. xiii. 223 Into those eyes she would call up her soul and there make it sit, flashing light, in gleams and sparkles, shoots and coruscations. 1894Times 25 June 7/2 Both [yachts] had a long shoot up in the eye of the wind. 1903Edwards-Moss in A. E. T. Watson Eng. Sport 178 In order then to give the same shoot (i.e. pace between the strokes) when the oars are coming forward for the next stroke, there must be greatly increased power put into each stroke.
b. Of an immaterial thing: A sudden advance.
1752Johnson Rambler No. 200 ⁋4, I felt at his sudden shoot of success an honest and disinterested joy. 1752Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) I. 125 The sciences..were enabled to make..considerable shoots. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vii. i, Many things too, especially all diseased things, grow by shoots and fits. 1839Hallam Lit. Europe ii. iv. §16 We find it near the end of Elizabeth's reign, when our literature made its first strong shoot.
c. A sharp short twinge (of pain).
1756Foote Engl. fr. Paris ii. Wks. 1799 I. 122, I burn, I burn—Ah, there's a shoot. 1822–29Good's Study Med. (ed. 3) IV. 320 The lancinating shoots darted both downward..and upward. 1892Swinburne Sisters ii. i. 36, I thought, Between the shoots and swoonings, off and on, How hard it was. 1899J. Hutchinson in Arch. Surg. X. 126 The shoots of pain were like those of an electric discharge.
†d. = thrust n. 3 (a). Obs.
1772C. Hutton Bridges 58 The weight of the pier ought..to..exceed in effect the shoot of the arch. 1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 340.
e. A detachment and falling away or tumbling down (as of part of a cliff); a landslip.
1820Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. I. 104 Various heaps of broken ice denoted recent shoots of the seaward edge [sc. of an iceberg]. 1889W. Rye Cromer 68 In 1832, there was so heavy a shoot of the cliff..that [etc.].
f. In slang phr. to give (a person) the shoot: to dismiss from employment, sack; also transf. So to get the shoot. Cf. boot n.3 1 c.
1846Swell's Night Guide 50 ‘You nasty old man,’ said she, ‘and your doss gorger cracked a wid about you to me, and said she must give you the shoot.’ 1906[see move n. 6].
g. = shot n.1 7 h. U.S.
1959Time 5 Jan. 24/2 Another 20 or 30 Atlas shoots must be made. 1961N.Y. Times Mag. 5 May 28/2 (caption) In a recent ‘shoot’ the capsule was picked up at sea fifty-six minutes after take-off.
4. Weaving. One movement or throw of the shuttle between the threads of the warp; the length of thread thus placed; also, the weft.
1717Parnell Homer's Battle of Frogs & Mice ii. 114 Along the Loom the purple Warp I spread, Cast the light Shoot, and crost the silver Thread. 1731Mortimer in Phil. Trans. XXXVII. 107 Wherefore they fasten a Loop or Potlart to as many of these simple Chords as there are Threads of the Warp to be pull'd up at every Shoot, or every Throw of the Shuttle; by which means the Shoot shews itself on the right Side, where the Warp is pulled up. 1736Act 9 Geo. II, c. 37 §7 The Shoot Yarn..shall be..close struck with four Shoots of treble Threads at the Distance of every two Feet. 1810J. T. in Risdon's Surv. Devon Introd. p. xxv, The other yarn, of a softer twist, is called the abb or shoot. 1831G. R. Porter Silk Manuf. 231 The commoner sorts of ribands, are composed altogether, both warp and shoot, of Bengal silk. 1840Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. III. 139/2 An improved method of preparing shoot or weft to be used in weaving woollen cloth. 1844G. Dodd Textile Manuf. vi. 201 Plain silks, as well as most woven fabrics, consist of threads crossing each other at right angles; the ‘long-threads’ being technically called the warp, and the ‘cross-threads’ the shoot or weft. 1888J. Paton in Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 464/1 A new shed is formed, the last made pick or shoot being enwrapped between the intersecting warp sheds.
5. a. A heavy and sudden rush of water down a steep channel; a place in a river where this occurs, a rapid. (Confused with chute n.1 1; cf. shute.)
a1613J. Dennys Secrets Angling ii. xxvi, At the Tayles, of Mills and Arches small, Whereas the shoote is swift. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 287 Gulleys..where..great shoots of water had been used to run. 1792G. Cartwright Jrnl. Labrador I. Gloss. p. xiv, Shoot in a River, a place where the stream, being confined by rocks which appear above water, is shot through the aperture with great force. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. l, A single shoot carried a considerable stream over the face of a black rock. 1869Blackmore Lorna D. xlv, The ‘shoot’ as we called our little runnel of everlasting water, never known to freeze before. 1870D. Macrae Amer. at Home xli. II. 161 At these points it [the Mississippi] sooner or later makes a new channel for itself across the neck of land. This is called a shoot.
b. An artificial channel for conveying water by gravity to a low level; or for the escape of overflow water from a reservoir, etc.; also for forcing water into a railway engine in rapid motion.
1707Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 82 By maintaining of the leaden Shoot. 1765Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 32 The miller of an overshot mill..has shoots lying over every one of his wheels, stopped by flash-boards at their upper ends, against which the water lies bearing, always ready to drive the wheels whenever it can find a passage. 1813Vancouver Agric. Devon 320 Immediately below the weir, there is an outlet regulated by another flood-hatch, and conducted through a shoot, formed of oak-plank, from the leat. 1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §85 To paint the whole of the external wood-work, and the gutters, and shoots (spouts). 1843Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. VI. 90/1 A form of gully hole and shoot, constructed with radiated bricks, the shoot being half a brick in substance. 1865Morn. Star 5 Apr., To make provision for draining the water from the surface, and having shoots on each side to carry it off. 1875W. D. Parish Sussex Gloss., Shoot, a gutter round a roof for shooting off the water.
†c. ? The flow of water (from a hill). Obs.
1799A. Young Agric. Lincoln. 275 The catch-water drain runs all winter, taking the shoot from an extensive range of hills, and bringing in floods much of the finer and richer particles.
6. a. A sloping channel or conduit for letting down coal, ore, wheat, etc. into a lower receptacle.
1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 137 It is always desirable that the frame below should contain a shoot formed of light boarding, that will receive the broken cake from the rollers. 1862Chamb. Jrnl. Apr. 216 [Mining] The shoots are iron gratings or screens, placed at a considerable incline, and as the coal runs down, the dust falls through on to heaps below. 1869Rankine Machine & Hand-tools Pl. P 20, The bullet, now finished, is delivered through a shoot into a wooden box. 1884Sir R. Couch in Law. Rep. 9 App. Cases 426 The Westport..made fast to the coalstaiths..with the forehatch under No. 1 shoot. 1899Baring-Gould Bk. West II. xviii. 290 Above the door is a shoot for melted lead.
b. U.S. ‘A passage-way on the side of a steep hill or mountain down which wood and timber are thrown or slid’ (Bartlett 1848). Also shute n.
1881[see chute n.1 2].
c. U.S. ‘An enclosed steep passageway for animals to pass, as from one corral to another or to railway-cars’ (Funk's Stand. Dict. 1895). Austral., an opening and ramp leading from one pen to another in a sheep-shearing shed. Cf. chute n.1 3 b.
1873J. H. Beadle Undevel. West xxii. 432 About a quarter section of cattle-yards and ‘shoots’ extend around the depot. 1880Harper's Monthly Jan. 203 (Funk) There were..three corrals connected by ‘shoots’ or narrow passages. 1900,1905[see pen n.1 1 c]. 1955Stewart & Keesing Austral. Bush Ballads 239 The shearers squint along the pens, they squint along the shoots; The shearers squint along the board to catch the Boss's boots.
d. A place where rubbish may be ‘shot’; = tip n.5 4 b.
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 286/2 Each particular district appears to have its own special ‘shoot’ for rubbish. 1894Daily News 27 Dec. 5/3 It [the dust] is taken to ‘shoots’ on vacant land.
7. Mining. A considerable and somewhat regular body or mass of ore in a vein, usually elongated and vertical or inclined in position. Also, ‘a vein branching at a small angle from and reentering a main vein’ (Funk's Stand. Dict. 1895).
1850Ansted Elem. Geol., Min. etc. Gloss., Shoot (in mining), a vein parallel [? erron.] to the stratification. 1880H. R. Nicholls in Victorian Rev. I. 657 Gold is not distributed uniformly through the quartz, but exists in ‘shoots’ and bands. 1890Goldfields of Victoria 14 As a rule, as soon as the shoot of stone carrying gold runs out, the reef is abandoned. 1894A. Robertson Nuggets 31 The rich shoot of gold he had come upon.
8. the whole (entire) shoot: the entire lot. to go the whole shoot: to risk all. slang and colloq.
1884Longman's Mag. Feb. 382 The Colonel responded by declaring his intention of paying for the whole shoot. 1896Pall Mall Mag. Nov. 380, I interviewed the entire shoot. They were all strangers to me. 1899E. Phillpotts Human Boy 197 To mothers he never talked about ‘pupils’; but called the whole shoot of us ‘his lads’.
9. dial. A cross-bar connecting the parts of an old-fashioned plough; = sheath2.
1733Tull Horse-Hoeing Husb. xxii. 351 My Plow..being composed of four rough Pieces of Planks..held together by three shoots, or Pieces of Wood. 1811T. Davis Agric. Wilts. 263 Parts of a Plough... Fore-shoot, backward-shoot, two pieces of wood immediately behind the coulter.
10. attrib. and Comb., as shoot-bud, † shoot-graft (in quot. fig.), shoot-structure; shoot-producing adj.; shoot-board = shooting-board (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875); † shoot-serpent = dart n. 4; shoot-thread (see quot. and sense 4); † shoot-tobacco (see quot.); shoot-trough, a trough placed under a ‘shoot’ (sense 5 b); † shoot-yarn = shoot-thread.
1786Abercrombie Gard. Assist. 142 To disbud or rub off the useless *shoot-buds of the year, now fast advancing.
1610Holland Camden's Brit. i. 109 From hence it is, that the *shoot-grifts of iniquitie..sprout and put forth in our soile.
1909Contemp. Rev. Apr. 446 Analogous to the case of the *shoot-producing plant is that of certain ascidians.
1731Medley Kolben's Cape Good Hope II. 163 The Eye-Serpent..is likewise call'd the Dart- or *Shoot-Serpent, on Account of her darting her self very swiftly either at or from an Enemy.
19065th Rep. Carnegie Trust Scot. 18 William Macrae..—Correlation of *shoot-structure and root-structure in plants with relation to their environmental conditions.
1844G. Dodd Textile Manuf. vi. 203 A *shoot-thread is thrown over the pile threads, and also over one-half of the warp-threads.
1666J. Davies tr. Rochefort's Caribby Isles 191 It is called by some *Shoot-Tobacco, or Sucker-Tobacco, or Tobacco of the second cutting or growth.
1831in Mrs. Bray Descr. Tamar & Tavy (1836) I. vii. 119 It is now used..as a *shoot-trough, in which they wash potatoes, &c.
1736Act 9 Geo. II, c. 37 §7 The Wharp and *Shoot Yarn.
▪ II. † shoot, n.2 Naut. Obs.
Also 5 shutt, 6 shute, shoutt.
[a. (M)LG. schôte or (M)Du. schoot (see sheet n.1, etym. note), whence WFris. skoat, G. schote, Sw. skot, also AF. escote (whence 14th c. Eng. scote n.1), MF. ecoucte (mod.F. écoute, dial. escôte), † scot(t)e (Cotgr.), It. scotta, Sp., Pg. escota.]
= sheet n.2
1495Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 188 Mayne shuttes olde and ffeble..ij. 1514in Oppenheim Admin. Royal Navy (1896) I. 375 Shutes with iiij shevers of Brasse. 1531in J. Strutt Mann. & Cust. Eng. (1776) III. 53 A bonnet haulf worren, with shoutts, tacks, and bollyngs;..two top sayll shouts;..foer sayll shoutts. 1582Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. xxviii. 71 Other belying the shootes both great and small. 1633T. James Voy. 30 We ouer⁓looked our Tacks and Shoots, with other Riggings of stresse.
▪ III. shoot, n.3
Forms: 6, (8–9) shewt, 8 shut, 9 shoote, shute, 9– shoot.
[app. a special use of shoot n.1]
A species of colic or diarrhœa in cattle.
1587L. Mascall Bk. Cattell i. (1596) 44 To helpe the shewt of bloud in cattell. The shewt of bloud commonly is, to those beastes which haue bin euil kept. 1725Bradley's Fam. Dict., Shewt of Blood. c1800J. Cundall Sch. Arts 34 For Shut, or Flux in Calves. Ibid. 35 For a gut foundered, or Shut in Cows. 1834Youatt Cattle 356 A disease of this character [i.e. of inflammatory fever], but known by a number of strange yet not inexpressive terms, is occasionally prevalent, and exceedingly fatal among cattle in every district. It is termed black-quarter, quarter evil, joint murrain, blood-striking, shewt of blood, &c. 1839Compl. Grazier (ed. 7) vi. ii. 309 The Shoote or Dysentery in calves. 1886Cheshire Gloss., Shute,..diarrhœa in cattle.
▪ IV. shoot, v.|ʃuːt|
Pa. tense and pple. shot |ʃɒt|. Forms: pres. stem. α. 1 scéote, 2–3 sceote, 3 sceate, 3–4 scheote, 3–5 schete, shete, 3 ssete, 4 sscete, 5 scheete, 4–5 sheete. β. 4–6 schote, shote, 4 schut(e, 4–6 schut, 5 schwt (Sc.), shutte, 6 shutt, 6–7 shut, 6–8 shute, 4 schout, 6–7 shoute, 6 Sc. schuit(e, shuit, schoit, 6–7 shoote. γ. [1–3 scotie, 3 scote,] 3–6 schott, 4 schot, 6 shot. 3rd sing. pres. (contracted forms) 1 scíet, scíat, scýt(t, 3 scheot, 4 schut, schit, 4–5 schet. pa. tense. α. sing. 1 scéat, scǽt, scét, 3 sceat, scæt, scheat, sset, set, 3–5 schet, 4–5 scheet, 4 ssat, 5 shate; pl. 1–2 scuton, 1 sceoton, 3 scuten, soten, 3–4 schoten, 3–5 shoten, 4–5 shotten, 4 schotten, 5 shotyn, shottyn, -on. β. 4– 6 shotte, 4–5 schott, 5 schoote, shote, 7 shotted, 6 (9 rare) shooted, 4–6 schot, 4– shot. pa. pple. α. 1 (ᵹe)scoten, 3 (i-)scote(n, (hi-sote, i-scote, i-ssote), 3–4 i-schote, y-schote, 4 (y-)schoten, 4–5 (y-)shoten, -in, -on, 5 schottyn, 6–9 shotten, 7 shoote, 5 y-schott(e, y-schot, 4– shot. β. 5 rare schett.
[A Com. Teut. strong verb: OE. scéotan (scéat, scuton, scoten) corresponds to OFris. skiata (WFris. sjitte, EFris. sjôt, schjôte, NFris. sjit, skjit, etc.), OS. (Gallée), OLowFrankish skietan (LG., Du. schieten), OHG. scioȥȥan (MHG. schieȥen, mod.G. schiessen), ON. skjóta (Sw. skjuta, Da. skyde), f. OTeut. *skeut-: skaut-: skut-, for other derivatives of which see sheet n.1 and n.2, shot n., shut v. The affinities outside Teut. are doubtful.
The form-history in Eng. is to some extent parallel with that of choose v., the only other surviving verb which has the series éo, ǽ (éa), u, o preceded by a palatal consonant.
In the present-stem, the forms shete, sheete, etc., directly representing the OE. scéot-, became obsolete in the 15th c. (cf. chese, which survived into the 16th c.). The spelling s(c)hote, which, like the corresponding chose, occurs first in the 14th c., is phonetically ambiguous, and possibly represents two distinct formations: (1) ME. shōte with close o, the antecedent of the mod. shoot, and prob. descending from an OE. pronunciation with altered diphthongal stress, sceōt-, sc⊇ōt-; and (2) ME. shǭte with open o (the mod.Eng. form of which, if it had survived, would have been *shote or *shoat), descending from OE. scotian to shoot (chiefly, with arrows), a weak verb f. the ablaut-form scot- of the root (cf. scot shot n., scota shooter, archer). The form s(c)hute, prob. representing a pronunciation |ʃjuːt| or |ʃiwt|, earlier perhaps |ʃuːt|, is in chronology parallel with chuse; the vowel was probably in some dialects the regular phonetic descendant of OE. ēo or eō when preceded by |ʃ|. It is noteworthy that Ben Jonson (Gram. xviii) says that to pronounce chewse, shewt, ‘is Scottish-like’.
The OE. pa. tense scéat is normally represented by the 15th c. form scheet; the contemporary forms schet, shate (14th c. ssat) perh. had the vowel-shortening which is common before a final dental. The modern form shot is of uncertain and probably mixed origin. It may partly represent the 14th c. weak form schotte, which itself admits of a twofold explanation, as it may have been evolved from the originally strong pl. schotten (repr. OE. scuton), or it may descend from OE. scotode, pa. tense of scotian. The ME. schōt (spelt schote in the 15th c.), with which cf. chose, pa. tense of choose, may descend from OE. sceāt, and by vowel-shortening may be one of the sources of the modern form. Further, the influence of the pa. pple. may, as in many other vbs., have affected the form of the pa. tense.
The pa. pple. shotten normally represents OE. scoten (for the short vowel cf. gotten); shot is prob. a shortening of this, though it may also be partly a weak form as in the pa. tense. Rare weak forms are schett (15th c.) from pres. stem schete, and shooted (16th c.).]
I. To go swiftly and suddenly.
1. a. intr. Of an inanimate thing (or of a living being moving involuntarily): To go or pass with a sudden swift movement through space; to rush, be precipitated; to fly as an arrow from a bow. Also with adv. expressing direction of movement, as up, down, forward, etc.
a1000ælfred's Blooms in Shrine (1864) 201 Þonne þa wolcnan sceotað betweon hyre [the sun] & þe. c1000ælfric Deut. ix. 21 On ða burnan ðe of ðam munt scytt [Vulg. qui de monte descendit]. a1225Juliana 71 [The boiling pitch] smat up aȝein þeo þe iȝarket hit hefden & for schaldede of ham as hit up scheat. c1290St. Michael 529 in S. Eng. Leg. 314 Liȝtingue..scheot þoruȝ þe cloude. c1305Pilate 255 in E.E.P. (1862) 118 And as an arewe schet of a bwe þat bodie [i.e. of Pilate] schet þerinne. Þe roche schet to-gadere anon þo þat bodie was wiþ-inne. c1330Arth. & Merl. 9159 Also þicke þe arwe schoten, In sonne bem so doþ þe moten. 1338R. Brunne Chron. (1725) 170 Þe galeie þer þorght [i.e. through the enemy's ship] schete, &..Þe schip þat was so grete, it dronkled in þe flode. 15..Scot. Field 206 in Chetham Soc. Misc. II, The sonne shott up full sone, and shone over the hilles. 1569T. Preston Cambises 1166 As I on horse back up did leap, my sword from scabard shot. 1602Marston Ant. & Mel. i. Wks. 1856 I. 16 Keen lightning shot Through the black bowels of the quaking ayre. 1632G. Fletcher Christ's Vict. i. i, And how the rising Morne, That shot from heav'n, did backe to heaven retourne. 1727–46Thomson Summer 1700 The lambent lightnings shoot Across the sky. 1829Chapters Phys. Sci. xvii. 201 The water will shoot forwards within it. 1848Aytoun Lays Scott. Cavaliers (1849) 77 Thicker, thicker grew the swarm, And sharper shot the rain. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. ii. 12 The heavier masses..shoot forward like descending rockets. 1863Baring-Gould Iceland 113 The Buthera shoots over a rock in a pretty cascade. 1864Tennyson A Dedication 4 As the rapid of life Shoots to the fall. 1889Conan Doyle Micah Clarke 82 The weary creature stumbled, and the rider came perilously near to shooting over its head. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 244 The blood at once shoots in from the arteries with great rapidity and distends the vessels.
b. Of a ‘star’ or meteor: To dart across the sky. Cf. shooting star.
c1290St. Michael 517 in S. Eng. Leg. 314 Ase ȝe mowe..I-seo a wonder siȝte, Scheote as þei it a steorre were bi þe lofte an heiȝ. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 153 Certaine starres shot madly from their Spheares, To heare the Sea maids musicke. 1609B. Jonson Masq. Queens Wks. 1616 I. 954 Neuer a starre yet shot? 1630Dekker 2nd Pt. Hon. Wh. ii. i, A Starre may shoote, not fall. 1712Pope Rape of Lock ii. 82 The stars that shoot athwart the night. 1810Southey Kehama xii. vii, Gone like..A star that shoots and falls, and then is seen no more.
c. Of light, etc.: To be emitted in rays, to dart. Also with advs., as out, up. Of a glance: To dart.
1693Dryden Juvenal Ded. (1726) p. v, I was as soon sensible as any Man of that Light, when it was but just shooting out, and beginning to travel upwards to the Meridian. 1810Scott Lady of L. iv. xviii, There shot no glance from Ellen's eye To give her steadfast speech the lie. 1825Scott Talism. xxii, When the very first level ray shot glimmering in dew along the surface of the desert. 1825― Betrothed xvi, A gleam of anger shot along his features. 1845Gosse Ocean iv. (1849) 175 Not a cloud tempers the fierce burning rays of the sun, which shoot directly on our heads. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xv. (1856) 111 From these, acicular rays shoot out in every direction. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xx. 137 [The sun's] rays,..shot more and more deeply into the valley. 1908R. Bagot A. Cuthbert iii. 27 From the north-eastern horizon broad streams of light were shooting up into the centre of the heavens.
d. fig. Of thoughts, etc.: To pass suddenly into, across, etc. a person's mind.
1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 307 He could none other but folowe every soodain guerie or pangue that shotte in his braine. 1791Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest v, A thousand apprehensions shot athwart her busy thought. 1826Scott Woodst. xvii, It shot..across my mind, that [etc.]. 1832L. Hunt Sir R. Esher (1850) 400 It shot across me..that I was doing the very thing I described him as wishing not to be done. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy xxxvii, ‘Am I to see nothing but the evidences of death's doing this night?’ was the mental question which shot through Edward's over⁓wrought brain. 1870E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. II. 236 A ray of light had shot into his mind.
†e. Of fluids, tears, blood, etc.: To issue suddenly, stream out. Obs.
c1470Henry Wallace iii. 156 The Scottis..With suerdis schar throuch habergeons full gude, Vpon the flouris schot [ed. 1570 schot out] the schonkan blude, Fra hors and men throw harnes burnyst beyne. c1470Gol. & Gaw. 639 Schire teris schot fra schalkis. Ibid. 690 Fra schalkis schot schire blude our scheildis so schene.
f. Of a person's feet: To slip suddenly. Now only with phrase or adv.
c1430Syr Tryam. 1547 Hys fote schett and he felle downe. 1889Gretton Memory's Harkback 153 At a specially slippery place all my mare's feet shot from under her.
g. Of a wall, cliff, etc.: To fall precipitately.
1589P. Ive Pract. Fortif. 21 But the discommoditie a wall receiueth of that so greate scarpe, is, that oft times through the great waight of the top, it looseth it foote and shooteth. 1754T. Gardner Hist. Dunwich 93 The Serges playing against the Foot, easily undermines the Cliff, which shoots in abundance.
h. Naut. Of ballast: = shift v. 21 c.
1678Phillips (ed. 4) s.v., The ballast is said to shoot, when it runs from one side of the Ship to the other. 1711Milit. & Sea Dict. (ed. 4), The Ballast shoots: That is, runs over from one Side to the other; for which Reason all kind of Grain is dangerous Lading, as being apt to shoot. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., The ballast shoots on one side.
i. Of a ball: To move with accelerated speed after its first impingement; esp. in Cricket. Of a bowled ball: To move rapidly close to the ground after pitching.
1816W. Lambert Instructions & Rules of Cricket 29 When a ball is pitched short of its usual and proper length..it may cut or shoot on the ground. 1833J. Nyren Yng. Cricketer's Tutor 29 When you see the ball shoot, play the bat back as near to the wicket as possible. 1851Lillywhite Guide Cricketers 15 Try every manœuvre to make the ball twist and shoot after it touches the ground. 1873Bennett & Cavendish Billiards 371 The effect of which [‘side’] is to make it shoot..as soon as it touches the cushion. 1888A. G. Steel Cricket (Badm. Libr.) 184 The ball which, after the pitch, never rises, but shoots along the surface of the ground..is commonly called a ‘shooter’. 1901R. H. Lyttelton Cricket & Golf 31 A ball pitching on that spot would sometimes shoot, sometimes hang.
j. to shoot on: in immaterial sense, to make rapid progress.
1871Green Lett. (1901) 281 My physical strength has shot on wonderfully.
2. a. Of a person or living thing: To pass swiftly and suddenly from one place to another; to precipitate oneself, rush, dart. Also with advs., esp. off, out.
c1000Ags. Gosp. John xxi. 7 Petrus..scet [Vulg. misit se] innan sæ. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7455 His folc quicliche to þe bataile sscet [v.rr. schet, schette]. 13..Coer de L. 7025 Kyng Richard..gan to crye: ‘Turne arere Every man with his banere!’ And many thousand before hym schete, With swerdes and with launses grete. 1375Barbour Bruce ix. 387 Arayit weill in all his geir, [he] Schot in the dik. Ibid. xi. 596 For sum vald schut out of thar rout. c1380Sir Ferumb. 3962 Wyþ is riȝt hond þan blessede he hym, And þoȝ þe ryuere were styf & grym, Wyþ boþe hors in a schet. a1400Sir Beues (Sutherl. MS.) 2388 Iosian into þe caue gan shete. c1400Destr. Troy 5933 He..Shot thurgh the sheltrons, shent of þe pepull. 14..Sir Beues (Camb. MS.) 1811 Beues smot is hors, þat he can shete In to þe se. c1430Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 4598 Into the thikkest anoon he shet Ful redilie with his swerd draw To make wey for his felow. c1470Henry Wallace iv. 552 Rycht stark he was, and in to souir ger, Bauldly he schott amang thai men of wer. 1615Markham Pleas. Princ. ii. (1635) 11 This Corke..will float till the hooke be fastned, and that the Fish beginneth to shut away with the bayte. 1666Dryden Ann. Mirab. cviii, She [the eagle] stops, and listens, and shoots forth again. 1712Steele Spect. No. 498 ⁋3 A lively young fellow in a fustian jacket shot by me. 1748Richardson Clarissa VI. 258 She shot to the stairs-head to receive him. 1823Scott Quentin D. xx, The Scot shot back to the castle with the speed of the wind. 1828W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) II. 121 To shoot off, to go off precipitately. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xlv, Animated with a ray of hope, the child shot on before her grandfather. 1853G. J. Whyte-Melville Digby Grand xvi, Captain Black judiciously lets him out for a few strides, and shoots forward some five or six lengths in front of his companions. 1871L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. v. (1894) 114 We shot out of the long tunnel..and descended into the valley. 1877M. M. Grant Sun-Maid ii, Finally they shot round a sharp corner. 1930J. Devanny Bushman Burke xii. 72 Whatja shoot off for? Had great time after you left. 1946[see coast n. 4 c].
†b. To rush on or upon (with intent to attack or devour). Obs.
a1300Havelok 1838 Þey drowen ut swerdes, ful god won, And shoten on him, so don on bere Dogges, þat wolden him to-tere. Ibid. 2431 The Kinges men hwan he þat sawe, Scuten on hem, heye and lowe, And euerilk fot of hem slowe. c1330Arth. & Merl. 3868 Þer miȝt men se þe baners roten, Þe stedes forþ wel ȝern schoten. 1338R. Brunne Chron. (1725) 94 Opon þe rode he schete. 1375Barbour Bruce vii. 390 He suld schute on hym sodanly.
c. To slide down a slope at full speed.
1738Gray Tasso 19 Swift shoots the Village-maid in rustic play..adown the shining way. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxvii. 216 Once, while shooting down a slope, he incautiously allowed a foot to get entangled.
d. colloq. To depart, go away. Freq. int.
1897Leeds Mercury 19 June Suppl., Nah, then, shooit, or ah'll mak yo! 1970G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard viii. 230 I'll shoot then, if it's all right. Nothing else? 1974H. L. Foster Ribbin', Jivin', & Playin' Dozens v. 203 Two of them said, ‘Shoot.’ They all turned and walked away.
e. to shoot through: to escape, abscond; to depart, leave. Austral. and N.Z. slang. Cf. go v. 91 d.
1947Pix 20 Sept. 15 Shoot through, escape, abscond. 1951S. Mackenzie Dead Men Rising 37 I'm shooting through—my woman's sick and I've waited longer than I should have. 1965M. Shadbolt Among Cinders xviii. 168 ‘Well,’ I said... ‘I guess I'd better be shooting through. Thanks for the sausage.’ 1978Telegraph (Brisbane) 11 Jan. 28/1 I've been advised to shoot through and forget about the debts.
3. a. Of a vessel (hence of its commander or crew): To move swiftly in a certain direction. to shoot to: to ‘shoot’ into the desired position. (Cf. sense 12 b.)
c1400Destr. Troy 6033 Thaire shippis in sheltrons shotton to lond. 1579T. Stevens in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 161 Our Pilot..thinking himselfe to haue wind at will, shot so nigh the land, that [etc.]. 1670Narborough Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. 23, I concluded we had shot past Port Desier Harbour in the Fog. 1716Gay Trivia ii. 167 She downward glides, Lights in Fleet-ditch, and shoots beneath the tides. 1815Scott Guy M. v, She fired three guns as a salute..and then shot away rapidly before the wind. 1849M. Arnold Mod. Sappho 34 'Tis..the boat, shooting round by the trees! 1850Scoresby Cheever's Whalem. Adv. xii. (1859) 178 We shot past him like a meteor. 1856Miss Warner Hills Shatemuc viii, Again clearing the rocks the little boat..shot off down the stream. 1887Goode, etc. Fish. Industr. U.S. iv. 132 When speaking another vessel it is customary to pass by her stern and shoot to alongside of her.
b. to shoot ahead: of a vessel, to increase speed suddenly, so as to pass accompanying or competing vessels; hence fig. Also, to be carried forward by momentum.
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 20 Brace too the Fore⁓top-sail, that we may not shoot ahead. 1840Dickens Sk. Yng. Couples 29 We were suffered to shoot a-head, while the second boat followed ingloriously in our wake. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., A ship shoots ahead in stays.
4. a. trans. With obj. denoting what is passed through, over, or under by ‘shooting’: (a) To pass quickly under (a bridge) in a boat; (b) to descend (a rapid or cataract) swiftly in a boat or other vessel; so to shoot a river; (c) to ‘coast’ down (a hill) in cycling; (d) nonce-use, to pass swiftly over (a distance).
(a)1570Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) 2290/1 They could not shoote the Bridge. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 74 Having shot two or three small bridges..we came to the Village Lizzafusina. 1679Alsop Melius Inq. ii. i. 179 To withdraw from Apparent Duty for fear of uncertain Danger is but like his, that would not shoot the Bridge, because it might fall on's Head. 1729Fielding Author's Farce iii, When one day, among other frolics, our ship's-crew shooting the bridge, the boat overset. 1835Marryat J. Faithful vi, In half an hour I had shot Putney Bridge. 1877Foley Rec. Eng. Province S.J. I. 496 note, This was the old London Bridge... It was always a dangerous thing to ‘shoot’ the arches when it was running.
transf.1706E. Ward Hud. Rediv. I. iv. 3, I shot the Porch that bears the Name of good king Lud.
(b)1613R. Harcourt Voy. Guiana 49 Wee turned downe the riuer, shooting the ouerfalles with more celerity then when wee came vp. 1686Goad Celest. Bodies ii. i. 141 The Boat..sometimes shoots the Cataract. 1703La Hontan's Voy. N. Amer. I. 143 Another River..has six or seven Water-falls that we commonly shoot. 1776C. Carroll in Kate Rowland Life (1898) I. 393 All our batteaux which shoot the rapids and go down the Sorel to Chamblay. 1829Southey Sir T. More II. 18 It must have been a grand sight to have seen them shoot the falls! 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. ii, There were probably not three men..who would have dared to shoot the lasher in a skiff in its then state. 1872Schele de Vere Americanisms 104 The..voyageurs..prefer..shooting a river, that is to say, dashing over the rapids in the swift current. 1877Black Green Past. xxxiv, You would have fancied that Bell had..spent her life in shooting rapids.
fig.1842De Quincey Cicero Wks. 1858 VII. 226 A man might shoot a whole series of divorces, still refunding the last dowry, but still replacing it with a better.
(c)1878Athletic World 3 May 57/2 Mr. Godlee..having..taken a header while shooting a hill with legs over the handles [of his cycle].
(d)1898Meredith Odes Fr. Hist. 26 Who..Spurred a blood-mare immeasurably fleet To shoot the transient leagues in a passing wink.
b. Naut. To succeed in sailing through (a dangerous strait, passage, gulf, etc.). Hence to shoot the gulf (fig.): proverbially for any daring enterprise. (See gulf n. 2 c.)
The fig. phrase appears to have originally had reference to sense 1 of gulf n., but prob. was often associated rather with sense 2 or 4.
1622R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea xli. 95 Sir Francis Drake told me, that having shott the Straites, a storme tooke him first at North-west. 1628Gaule Pract. Theories (1629) 319 So neither will I feare to shoot that great Gulfe. c1645[see gulf n. 2 c]. 1682Wheler Journ. Greece i. 28 We stood out to Sea, that we might shoot the Gulph of Londrin. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 173 Ships sometimes shoot that passage. 1751R. Paltock P. Wilkins xi. (1884) I. 107, I never had one hour's rest together since I shot the gulf till this. 1773Cook's 1st Voy. iii. v. in Hawkesw. Voy. III. 606 While we were shooting this gulph, our soundings were from thirty to seven fathom.
†c. to shoot the pit: of a fighting cock, to rush out of the cockpit from cowardice. Often fig. Obs.
1675[see pit n.1 5]. 1681T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 31 (1713) I. 204 Two or three more such stroaks will make them shoot the Pit. a1734North Exam. ii. v. ⁋19 (1740) 327 Which made the whole Party shoot the Pit and retire, as not caring to be pointed at with ill-favoured Reflections.
d. to shoot the moon: to remove household goods by night in order to avoid seizure for rent. (Cf. the older phrase in shove v.1 10 c.)
1836Comic Almanack Sept. (1870) 63 And lack-a-day! here's Quarter Day; It always comes too soon; So we by night must take our flight, For we must shoot the moon! 1844Alb. Smith Mr. Ledbury iii, Gradually moving all his things away, and shooting the moon to a friend's lodging. 1882Besant All Sorts iv, I let his houses... I warned him when shooting of moons seemed likely.
e. Racing. To dash past (a competitor). to be shot on the post: see quot. 1897.
1868Field 11 July 29/2 Cannon..just managed, after a fine specimen of riding between the two, to shoot Fordham by a head. 1897Encycl. Sport I. 62/1 (Athletics) A man is said to be ‘shot on the post’ when a competitor just dashes by him as he eases for the finish, or falls from exhaustion.
f. U.S. to shoot the chute(s: = to chute the chute(s s.v. chute v. 1. Also shoot-the-chute used as n.
1895N.Y. Dramatic News 30 Nov. 17/4 Shooting the Chutes, the latest craze that has struck the town, is..drawing large crowds. 1920R. Frost Let. 23 July (1964) 116 This man's island..will be full of divers and entertainment dives such as movies, con games, and shoot-the-chutes. 1946E. O'Neill Iceman Cometh iii. 165 We're goin' to beat it down to Coney Island and shoot the chutes. 1977Time 4 July 26/2 They are the not-so-spiritual descendants..of the Parisians who in 1817 rode the original shoot-the-chute.
5. a. intr. Of a pain: To pass in a sudden paroxysm along the nerves; to dart. Hence of a part of the body, a wound, etc.: To have darting pains.
a1000[see shooting ppl. a. 3]. 1602Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. i, I should want sense to feele The stings of anguish shoot through every vaine. 1633G. Herbert Temple, Misery viii, These preachers make His head to shoot and ake. 1667Dryden & Davenant Tempest v. ii, Alas! I feel the cold air come to me; My wound shoots worse than ever. 1718Pope Iliad xvi. 638 Pierc'd with Pain, That thrills my Arm and shoots thro' ev'ry Vein. 1818–20E. Thompson Nosologia (ed. 3) 198 Pain in the region of the kidnies, often shooting along the course of the ureter. 1875W. S. Gilbert Tom Cobb ii, O'Fi. Ye wouldn't have a major-gineral with corns that couldn't shoot? 1895R. W. Chambers King in Yellow (1909) 148 Then again something struck my ankle, and a sharp pain shot through me. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 742 The pain may dart and shoot.
b. fig.
16112nd Maiden's Trag. (Malone Soc.) 860 His very name shootes like a feaver throughe me. 1786Burns Vision ii. xvi, When youthful Love, warm-blushing, strong, Keen-shivering shot thy nerves along. 1848Dickens Dombey l, A pang of hopeless love visibly shooting through him, and flashing out in his face. 1869Lecky Europ. Mor. I. iii. 492 One brief spasm [of persecution] indeed..shot through the long afflicted Church of Asia Minor. 1895R. W. Chambers King in Yellow (1909) 238 A pang of homesickness shot through him.
6. a. Of a plant, bud, etc.: To emerge from the soil (also with up) or from the stem, etc.; to sprout, grow.
1483Cath. Angl. 338/2 To Schute as corne dose [v.r. Schott os corne dose], spicare. 1523–34Fitzherb. Husb. §21 Let hym beware, that he trede not to moche vppon the corne, and specyallye after it is shotte. 1583B. Melbancke Philotimus F ij b, The greene blade that shooteth too earely is soone bitt with a black frost. 1695J. Edwards Perfect. Script. 60 Others imagin'd they shooted out of trees. 1678Moxon Mech. Exerc. vi. 108 The Bough or Branch that shoots out of the Trunk of a Tree. 1732Pope Ess. Man i. 7 A Wild, where weeds and flow'rs promiscuous shoot. 1779Mirror No. 61 There they [plants] have room to shoot out at will. 1830Kyle Farm Rep. 39 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, Rib grass..puts out its foliage very early.., and as it is always shot before they can be admitted to pasture, it is rather injurious. 1834Youatt Cattle 566 Fungus shooted up. 1847W. C. L. Martin Ox 40/2 When the spring grass is beginning to shoot luxuriantly. 1866Shuckard Brit. Bees 223 A thick and prodigious quantity of the common mustard plant shot up.
b. fig.
1596Spenser F.Q. iv. xi. 26 That faire City, wherein make abode So many learned impes, that shoote abrode, And with their braunches spred all Britany. 1663Patrick Parab. Pilgr. xii. (1687) 74 All these grow upon this single root, or rather are but Love shooting forth in divers shapes. 1728–46Thomson Spring 1149 Delightful task! to rear the tender thought, To teach the young idea how to shoot. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 166 ⁋12 When we find worth faintly shooting in the shades of obscurity, we may let in light and sunshine upon it. 1768Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 281 Charity, though shooting most vigorously from rational self-love, yet, when perfectly formed, has no tincture remaining of the parent root. 1825Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Superann. Man (end), They tell me, a certain cum dignitate air, which has been buried so long with my other good parts, has begun to shoot forth in my person.
c. Of parts of animal bodies, teeth, hair, morbid growths.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 403 The rift being closed in the top, draw him [the horse] betwixt the haire and the hooue with a hot yron ouerthwart that place, to the intent that the hooue may shoote al whole downeward. 1739S. Sharp Oper. Surg. Introd. 31 When the Surface of the Ulcer begins to yield thick Matter, and little Granulations of red Flesh shoot up. 1753J. Bartlet Gentl. Farriery xxv. 226 This last, applied early, will prevent a fungus, or proud flesh, from shooting out. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 206 Sea Cow tusks, which shoot from the upper jaw. 1799Underwood Dis. Childhood (ed. 4) I. 189 From..the very first shooting of the teeth within the jaw. 1826S. Cooper First Lines Surg. (ed. 5) 326 The hairs fall off, and when they grow again, they shoot in a wrong direction.
7. a. To put forth buds or shoots, as a plant; to germinate. † Formerly often with advs., forth, out (const. with, into); also transf. of an animal, to put out limbs.
c1560A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xxxv. 11 He sall haiff brute, as tre on rute Endlang the rever plantit; To burge and schute, and sall gif frutt In tyme, as God hes grantit. 1607T. Walkington Opt. Glass 10 They neither shotte out right, nor hardly have any blowne blossoms. 1611Bible Luke xxi. 30 Behold the figge tree, and all the trees, Whan they now shoot foorth, [etc.]. 1627Hakewill Apol. (1630) 303 When it sprang up Proserpina, Nodolus when it shut into a blade. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 439 Shooting out with Legs, and imp'd with Wings, The Grubs proceed to Bees with pointed Stings. 1710W. King Heathen Gods xiii. (1722) 53 The Cypress Tree..when cut down, never shoots again. 1713Addison Guardian No. 156 ⁋6 The Corn that is laid up by Ants would shoot under Ground, if those Insects did not take care to prevent it. 1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) iv. 447 It is the property both of the walnut and olive-tree, that after a severe frost they shoot out with fresh vigour. 1773Phil. Trans. LXIII. 398 As I could not directly contrive a total section of this large species [of Sea-Anemone], I tried it upon the young ones; and these shooted out again after the operation. 1786Abercrombie Gard. Assist. 212 Always cut close, not leaving any stump to shoot again. c1792Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) IX. 744/1 Plants stript of any of their leaves, cannot shoot vigorously. 1877Jefferies Gamekeeper at H. vi. (1890) 145 For although furze and fern soon shoot again, yet animal life is not so quickly repaired. 1908[Miss E. Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 362 They shoot, and bud, and their tendrils and branches reach far around.
b. transf.
1711Addison Spect. No. 16 ⁋2 The young People of both Sexes are so wonderfully apt to shoot out into long Swords, sweeping Trains, bushy Head-dresses. 1791H. Walpole Let. to Miss Mary Berry 8 June, Bath shoots out into new crescents, circuses, squares every year.
8. a. To increase rapidly in growth (sometimes, with inclusion of sense 6, to sprout and grow rapidly); to advance to maturity. Now only with up or equivalent adv. or phrase: To grow quickly tall, ‘spring up’ to a height (said of plants, young persons, buildings, etc.; also of immaterial things). Also of prices, sales, etc.: to rise sharply.
1538Audley in Lett. Supp. Monast. (Camden) 246 He [the infant prince] shotyth owt in length. 1577Grange Golden Aphrod. L iij, Intermingled with all kinde of sweete and fragrant floures, the growth whereof shotte vp in heigth aboue the lower grasse..two foote. 1607Chapman Bussy d'Ambois iii. i, Great D'Ambois (Fortunes proud mushrome shot vp in a night). 1621Fletcher Wild Goose Chase i. iii, I am none of those that, when they shoot to ripeness, Do what they can to break the boughs they grew on. 1626Bacon Sylva §653 Such Trees..are (commonly) Trees that shoot vp much. 1654J. Sheffield Rising Sun 259 As there is in all dying or departed persons a great shooting in their stature observed; so is there in the soul much more. The least Infant shoots in the instant of Dissolution to that perfect knowledge of God. 1711Addison Spect. No. 98 ⁋1 About ten Years ago it [ladies' head-dress] shot up to a very great Height. 1721Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 11 (1754) 51 The sumptuous edifices which of late years have shot up in Oxford. 1750Johnson Rambler No. 55 ⁋11 Having, she said, never seen any body shoot up so much at my age. 1812Ann. Reg., Gen. Hist. 109/2 They ought not to tax Ireland as this country—she was shooting, and, if not oppressed, would come to maturity. 1818S. E. Ferrier Marriage ii. iii, A perfect dwarf..till she took a shooting... But she'll shoot no more. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xxxiii, I have often..seen a raw young fellow, shoot up after his first fight, from a dwarf into a giant-queller. 1861M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 39 Our commercial relations with the Baltic cities..soon shot up into one of our leading national objects. 1862M. E. Braddon Lady Audley xv, Four or five bare and over⁓grown poplars, that had shot up too rapidly for their strength. 1880Mrs. J. H. Riddell Myst. Palace Gard. ix, She had shot up into a woman all in a minute. 1905L. Whibley Companion to Grk. Studies ii. §2. 70 Tragedy had not yet passed its prime when the old comedy shot up to maturity. 1968Listener 27 June 826/3 The sales of vodka in Moscow shot up by 25 per cent. 1977Evening Gaz. (Middlesbrough) 11 Jan. 1/6 The pound shot up two cents against the dollar.
b. conjugated with to be. Also in pa. pple., (well) shot in years (rare), advanced in life.
1530Palsgr. 705/1 Se howe this corne is shotte up within this senyght. 1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Heb. xi. 24–26 After he was shotte vp towardes mannes state. 1596Spenser F.Q. v. vi. 19 Well shot in yeares he seem'd. c1610Women Saints 80 This happie branch of that vertuous stemme being shott vp beyond infancie, began to attempt workes of maturitie. 1799Ht. Lee Canterb. T., Poet's T. (ed. 2) I. 48 Little Henry was now shot up beyond his years. 1886Burton Arab. Nts. (abr. ed.) I. 176 The Wazir of Bassorah, a man shot in years.
†c. to shoot up (with complement): To become by sudden growth. Obs.
1692Dryden Cleomenes i. i. 4 Let me but live to shadow this young Plant, From Blites and Storms; He'll soon shoot up a Heroe.
9. a. Of a solution: To produce crystals. Also said of the crystals. Of a salt: To crystallize from solution or evaporation. [So G. schiessen.]
a1626Meverel in Bacon's Physiol. Rem. Baconiana (1679) 126 If the Menstruum be overcharged,..the Metals will shoot into certain Crystals. 1666Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. Wks. 1772 III. 54 The exact and curious figures, in which vitriol and other salts are wont to shoot. 1670W. Clarke Nat. Hist. Nitre 7 Nitre shoots long in Needles, but Salt shoots in tesseras, or squares. a1697Aubrey Surrey (1718) IV. 57 There is also here a Boyling-House, where the Salt-Petre is made, and shoots. 1732Hist. Litteraria IV. 35 This Solution, when rich, shoots into a Vitriol by standing. 1789A. Crawford in Med. Commun. II. 355 A solution of the..salt shoots by evaporation into thin octagonal plates. 1807T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 272 Crystals again shoot as the solution cools.
b. trans. To form (crystals); of a solution, to deposit in the form of crystals. Also refl. and pass., to crystallize; in wider sense, of a substance, to assume some definite form by internal movement.
1662Merrett tr. Neri's Art of Glass i. 5 Till you see it thicken, and shoot its salt. 1688Clayton in Phil. Trans. XVII. 795 Parts of natural Rock shot in those Figures. 1695Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth iv. 172 Tis usual to meet with the very same Metall or Mineral, naturally shot into quite different Figures. 1719Hauksbee Phys.-Mech. Exper. (ed. 2) Suppl. 258 The various Forms the new made Ice had shot it self into. 1732Hist. Litteraria IV. 23 It shoots a Tartar by standing. It has a vinous Taste.
10. a. intr. To project, jut out; to extend in a particular direction. Often with advs., esp. out. † Of a road (OE.): To go in a particular direction.
c1000ælfric Gen. xxiv. 62 Eode Isaac on þam weᵹe, þe scytt to þam pytte. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 305 Þe ilond Corsica is cornered wiþ many forlondes schetynge [Caxton stretchyng] in to the see. 1584B. R. tr. Herodotus i. 56 b, The partition of the walles made by the intercourse of y⊇ riuer, shootes vppon the bankes on eyther syde. 1607B.N.C. Documents (MS.) Bundle A 3. f. 19, 3 half acres of Errable land..shouting South and North. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 183 That Region [Cornwall]..shooteth out farthest into the West. Ibid. 542 The shore shutteth forth with a mighty swelling bent into the German Sea. 1679in J. C. Blomfield Heyford (1892) 85 A land by Oxford way side shooting north and south. 1684T. Burnet Theory Earth i. ix. 110 The Promontories and Capes shoot into the Sea. 1688Bunyan Heavenly Footman (1886) 155 Though the way to heaven be but one, yet there are many crooked lanes and by-paths shoot down upon it, as I may say. 1700J. Brome Trav. Eng. 245 From hence the Shore, after several crooked flexures, shooteth forth into the Sea. 1705Addison Italy, Tirol 532 This long Valley of the Tirol lyes enclos'd on all Sides by the Alps, tho' its Dominions shoot out into several Branches that lye among the Breaks and Hollows of the Mountains. 1726in W. Wing Ann. Steeple Aston (1875) 54 And one other land shooting into Oxford way. 1759in Q. Jrnl. Economics (1907) Nov. 79 Where the furlong shoots up the brook to be mownded by the two outside hides. 1815Elphinstone Acc. Caubul (1842) I. 137 The next branch..shoots out from the south-eastern side of Suffaid Coh. 1831Scott Ct. Rob. xxviii, Where the private gardens..shot down upon and were bounded by the glassy waters. 1847W. C. L. Martin Ox 58/1 The horns..first sweeping outwards and downwards, shot forward at the points.
b. With up or equivalent phrase: To extend vertically upwards; to tower, ‘rise’ into the air.
1648Hexham ii. s.v. Schieten, In de locht Schieten, To Shoote up into the Aire or Sky. 1726Swift Gulliver iii. iii, One even regular plate of adamant, shooting up to the height of about two hundred yards. 1757W. Wilkie Epigoniad vii. 213 A promontory..Whose rocky brow..Shoots high into the air. 1810Scott Lady of L. i. xi, Many a rocky pyramid, Shooting abruptly from the dell. 1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunters xxxv, Mountains, whose tops shot heavenward in fantastic forms and groupings. 1871L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. iii. (1894) 79 We could see..the sharp pyramid of the Finsteraarhorn shooting upwards. 1878Smiles Robt. Dick i. 3 It shoots up into a tall rocky point.
II. To send forth, esp. swiftly or by sudden impulse.
Some of the senses under this head are in modern use often coloured by the specific sense 21.
11. a. trans. To throw suddenly or with violence. Also with advs., out, down, etc. Obs. exc. as transf. from sense 21.
c1075O.E. Chron. (Cott. MS.) an. 1040, He let draᵹan up þæne deadan Harald & hine on fen sceotan. c1205Lay. 5081 He scæt [c 1275 caste] his riche sceld feor ut in þene feld. a1300Cursor M. 21043 Þat Imperur wend [John] to mat In a tun was welland hat Fild of oyle he did him schott, But noþer him harmd, hefd ne fott. a1340Hampole Ps. cxxxv. 15 And he shot out pharao and his vertu in the reed see. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxvii. (Machor) 981 Suddanly þai ware all deide, & schot in till gong stinkand. c1400Destr. Troy 1408 Þe Grekes..Shottyn into shippes all þe shene godis. c1450J. Metham Wks. (E.E.T.S.) 37/993 The sperehed lefft in hys brayn, And so schet hym ouer his hors on the pleynne Dede. 1533Bellenden Livy v. xxiii. (S.T.S.) II. 225 The gaule be his pride & Insolence schot in his swerde in þe leif of þe ballance. 1600Reg. Privy Counc. Scot. VI. 129 [They] maist dispitfullie expellit and schoit him oute of the said kirkyaird be the schoulderis. 1600Gowrie's Conspiracy C 1 b, He tooke the said Maister Alexander by the shoulders, and shotte him down the staire; who was no sooner shotte out at the doore, but [etc.]. 1700Dryden Ovid's Met. i. 930 The liquid Air his moving Pinions wound, And, in the moment, shoot him on the ground. 1835Dickens Sk. Boz, Making a Night of it, [They] found themselves shot with astonishing swiftness into the road [out of the theatre]. 1858R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma xxvi. 107 A more fractious horse..had finally shot him over his head.
b. To empty out (gold, grain, earth, etc.) by overturning or tilting the receptacle; to dump (rubbish); to send (goods, débris, etc.) down an inclined plane or ‘shoot’. Also, to discharge the contents of, empty (a sack) by overturning. Often with adv., as down, out.
a1400Sir Perc. 2114 Percevelle..schott owte alle the golde. c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 4248 What doth þan þis fel man & right prudent, But out þis golde on a tippet hath shotte, That in þe bagges lefte þere no grotte. 1592Greene Conny Catch. 22 There at the back gate [he] causeth him to vnloade, and, as they say, shoot the coles down. 1604N. F. Fruiterers Secrets 13 Also haue a care, that they be poured or shot downe very gently, laying euery sort by themselues. Ibid. 18 Haue a great care also in shooting or pouring them out. 1712Addison Spect. No. 511 ⁋3 Upon opening the Sack, a little old Woman popped her Head out of it; at which the Adventurer was in so great a Rage, that he was going to shoot her out into the River. 1765Museum Rust. IV. 210 If the farmer has sold, so as to deliver soon, he shoots not the sacks. 1821Acc. Peculations Coal Trade 11 He found the men shooting his coals in their master's warehouse. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. iv, A tract of suburban Sahara, where..carpets were beat, rubbish was shot,..and dust was heaped by contractors. 1876J. Fergusson Hist. Ind. Archit. iv. ii. 338 To chip away 50,000 yards of rock, and shoot it to spoil (to borrow a railway term) down a hill-side. 1885Law Times 16 May LXXIX. 46/2 Bales were shot from the top to the bottom floors by means of zigzag inclined planes. 1892Labour Commission Gloss. s.v., The flour is emptied down the shoot through the floor [of the flour loft]..into the troughs in which the dough is made. This operation is universally termed shooting flour.
transf. (jocular.)1860W. H. Russell Diary India I. 135 After a..tedious journey..the train shot us out amid a heap of cinders, and a wooden station at its terminus.
†c. To throw or pull down, overthrow. Obs.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxi. (Clement) 254, & quhene he wend scho wod had bene, he schot hyre to þe erde in tene. c1470Henry Wallace ii. 126 Atour the dike thai ȝeid on athir side, Schott doun the wall. 1513Douglas æneis xii. v. 154 Sum schot doun wyth thar hand The altaris markyt for the sacryfys.
d. refl. To throw or precipitate oneself; to rush. Also † fig. Now rare.
1587Holinshed Chron. (ed. 2) III. 1259/2 A monstrous fish or whale of the sea did shoot himselfe on shore. 1641Milton Reform. ii. 73 Hee that flying from degenerate and traditionall corruption, feares to shoot himselfe too far into the meeting imbraces of a Divinely warranted Reformation, had better not have run at all. 1679A. Lovell Indic. Univ. 28 A Serpent that casts and shoots himself on passengers. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. Ded. ⁋2, I have laugh'd sometimes..when I have reflected on those Men, who from time to time have shot themselves into the World. 1700S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 316 The Man shoots himself up to fetch breath. 1705Beverley Hist. Virginia ii. v. (1722) 133 The poor Fish is no sooner loosed from the Hawk's Talons, but the Eagle shoots himself, with wonderful Swiftness, after it, and catches it in the Air. 1705Addison Italy, Pesaro 158 This is the Gulf thro' which Virgil's Alecto shoots her self into Hell. 1889Baden-Powell Pigsticking 114 When the pig ‘shoots’ himself (as only a pig can do) over a mud wall, she follows.
e. To throw (rain, or running water) from, off (the surface); also with off, † down advs.
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 111 Where houses be reeded..The iuster ye driue it, the smoother and plaine, more handsome ye make it to shut off the raine. 1650Fuller Pisgah iv. iv. 68 The latter [Badgers-skins] no doubt had the fur upon them, the lubricity of the hair thereof being excellent gutters and spouts to shoot down the rain thereby. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 136 A great Cap for my Head, with the Hair on the Outside to shoot off the Rain. 1764Museum Rust. III. 334 As it [straw used in thatching] is not bruised by the flail, it shoots off the wet better. 1814T. Haynes Treat. Strawberry, etc. (ed. 2) 100 Then reduce the embankment..by throwing away the earth, the more readily to shoot off all wet. 1855Kingsley Westw. Ho! xxv, ‘The Lord has stood by me’ panted he, as he shot the water from his ears. 1882Christy Joints used by Builders 76 It is..important that the pitch should not be so steep as to shoot off heavy rain with too much velocity for the gutters to properly discharge.
† f. to shoot forth, shoot out, shoot away: to drive out or away, to banish, expel. (Chiefly Sc. and north.)
a1300Cursor M. 13658 Wit þis þai scott him als a dog Right vte o þair synagog. 13..K. Alis. 5968 Thou shalt there fynde kynges felouns,..That in Babiloyne made the toure,..That fele mylen in heightte stood, And thorough Goddes wreche shoten away, Into that vile countreye. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) vi. 19 He tuke þe citee of Acoun and schotte oute of it all þe Cristen men þat ware þerin. c1400Privity of the Passion in Hampole's Wks. (Horstm.) I. 214 And here was it þat þey schot hym forthe so felly & so cruelly and spytte in his face, and garte hym hye so fast. a1500Battle of Otterburn xxxii. in Child Ballads III. 297/1 He lyghted dowyn vpon his foote, And schoote hys horsse clene awaye. 1533Bellenden Livy ii. vi. (S.T.S.) I. 148 He commandit ane large nowmer of bestial to be schot furth on þe nixt day at porte aquillye. Ibid. iv. xx. II. 125 Ȝit he wan þe castell at þe first assalt, and schot furth all þame þat war fundin þareintill. 1535Coverdale Ps. xlii[i]. 2 Why hast thou shot me from the? 1562Winȝet Cert. Tractates i. Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 8 Or of the schuiting of honeste men fra thair native roumes. 1581Satir. Poems Reform. xliii. 97 Sicklyk was Sipio saiklesly schot furth. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. ii. 144 He repudiat, forsuke, and frome him, as vnworthie, schott [Lat. repudiavit] her [his wife] away. 1605B. Jonson Volpone i. v, Now, is he gone; we had no other meanes, To shoote him hence, but this.
g. To separate (the worst animals) from a drove or flock. Cf. shot n.3
1824Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. 1828[Carr] Craven Gloss., Shoot v. 2 To draw the worst cattle out of a drove. ‘I'll gee ye ten apiece for thur hundreds yows, and you'l let me shoot ten’.
h. To put hurriedly and carelessly. Also, to dispatch (a thing) rapidly.
1833H. Martineau Loom & Lugger i. iii. 27 He rose from his knee and shot his instrument into its case. 1844Alb. Smith Adv. Mr. Ledbury vii, The dirty cups and saucers were shot away into the drawers, and the table turned outside the door. 1926S.P.E. Tract xxiv. 126 If the article is ready, shoot it in. 1942Tee Emm (Air Ministry) II. 129 You have grumbled at the amount of bumph the Group has shot at you. 1971Black Scholar June 54/2, I don't have a picture at this time, but when I get one I will shoot it to you.
†i. to shoot (something) on fire: to cause to burst into flame. Obs.
c1400Destr. Troy 9509 The shippes on a shene fyre shot þai belyue, That the low vp lightly launchit aboute.
j. To discard, get rid of; orig. in shoot that hat, etc., as a mild imprecation. Also to shoot trouble = trouble-shoot v. slang (orig. U.S.).
1877in Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 4) 586 One lady..with derisive scorn..observed in the language of the day, ‘Oh, shoot that hat!’.. The slang the gang is using now, You'll hear from every lip; It's shoot the hat! and get it boiled; And don't you lose your grip. 1884J. Hay Bread-Winners xvi. 249 If I had all the cash he takes in to-night, I'd buy an island and shoot the machine business. 1902Farmer & Henley Slang VI. 188/1 Shoot that (hat, man—anything)!..a mild imprecation, ‘Bother!’ 1928Sunday Express 18 Mar. 9/2 ‘Tell him to shoot that song-and-dance outfit’.., and jump into some plain overalls. 1965‘W. Haggard’ Hard Sell xiv. 154 When there was trouble..then Murco Monti shot it. Political trouble especially. 1980P. Harcourt Tomorrow's Treason i. v. 72, I want you to shoot trouble for me till the conference is over.
k. Cricket. To bowl (a side or part of one) out quickly and cheaply.
1900P. F. Warner Cricket in Many Climes iv. ii. 159 Next day Ainsworth and ‘Bos’ shot the opposing side out for 30. 1976J. Snow Cricket Rebel 112 Half the Warwickshire side had been shot out for 46.
l. Slang phr. to shoot a card: to leave a visiting card. ? Obs.
1901Captain V. 7/2 The second-year man is always careful to ‘shoot’ his card when the fresher is abroad. 1924‘Sapper’ Third Round vi. 139 He may have heard that Mrs. Goodman is here, and has come to shoot a card.
12. a. To launch (a vessel); to cast forth or let down (an anchor); to lower and place in position (a fishing net). Now also spec. in Angling, to allow a quantity of (line) to run out through the hand at the forward motion of the rod in casting. Also absol.
1375Barbour Bruce iv. 629 Than in schort tym men mycht thaim se Schute all thair galais to the se. a1529Skelton Col. Cloute 1257 Shote anker, and lye at rode, And sayle not farre abrode, Tyll the cost be clere. 1552in Select Pleas Admiralty (Selden Soc.) II. 21 That no person nor persons from hensfurthe doo shote any wyddenett within x fathom of his next felowe by estimacon in the day tyme... Thesterly man to begynne first and so every man to shote in order. 1583Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 225/2 To haill, schutt, peill and draw nettis on all pairtis usit and wont within the said boundis. 1600Holland Livy xxviii. xlv. 706 The ships were finished, rigged, armed, and furnished with all things, and shot into the water. 1630in Binnell Descr. Thames (1758) 65 No fisherman..shall shute any Draw-Net, Cord-Net, or other Net or Engine..after Holyrood Day is past. 1776Act 16 Geo. III, c. 36 §3 Unless the Boat..do in the mean Time shoot or cast out into the Water her..Seyne Net. 1873Act 36 & 37 Vict. c. 71 §14 Any person who shall shoot or work any seine or draft net for salmon in a river across the whole width. 1894Hall Caine Manxman v. iii. 286 The nets were shot over the starboard quarter. 1931Hardy's Anglers' Guide 13 In Figs. 1 and 2 the left hand gathers slack line, while in Fig. 3 this line is released during the forward stroke. This is termed ‘shooting’ line. 1977Chicago Tribune 2 Oct. iii. 10/2 The current will pull on the line, making casting and ‘shooting’ of fly line on the next cast extremely difficult.
b. To cause (a vessel) to move forward suddenly or swiftly. to shoot (a vessel) to: to bring it by ‘shooting’ to a required position. † to be shot: of a vessel, to have advanced (a certain distance or to a certain point). Cf. sense 3.
1408tr. Vegetius' De Re Milit. (MS. Digby 233) lf. 226/2 Þei scheten here schippes to gedre & casteth out planckes or brygges..& fiȝtteþ hand at hand. 1555Eden Decades (Arb.) 382 When yow reken yowre selfe as farre shotte as cape de las Palmas. 1574W. Bourne Regim. Sea xxii. (1577) 60 You..shall be well shotte towardes the banke of Silley. 1588Fenner in Defeat Sp. Armada (Navy Rec. Soc.) I. 242 Being shot some ten leagues off South and by West of Ushant. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §137 A north-west wind would shoot the sloop clear of the house reef. 1794Rigging & Seamanship II. 316 Her sails tend to shoot her a-head. 1849W. S. Mayo Kaloolah vi. (1850) 50 With a sweep of his paddle he turned the bow of his boat from us, and with a few vigorous strokes shot it ahead. 1887Goode, etc. Fish. Industr. U.S. iv. 132 Shooting to. This evolution is peculiar to fore and aft rigged vessels... To shoot a schooner to, it is only necessary, when sailing by the wind, to put the wheel part way down, and as she comes head to wind to keep her in that position by the management of the helm until her headway is stopped.
13. a. To push or slide (a bar or bolt of a door or the like) into or out of its fastenings. Also to force (a lock).
c1000Gosp. Nicodemus xxvii. 15 in Thwaites Heptat. (1698), Belucaþ ða..ærenan gatu & toforan on sceotaþ þa ysenan scyttelsas. 1573Satir. Poems Reform. xxxix. 209 Thay schot na keyis to brek the coffiris than, Ane day of blythnes for the men of weir. a1617Bayne On Eph. (1658) 104, I have Power to shoot the bolt and lock it. 1637Rutherford Lett. (1664) 343, I know now..how to shut the lock & unbolt my welbeloved's door. 1696Cibber Love's last Shift iii, If you have lost it [the key] we must shoot the lock, I think. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xii, I fear we are betrayed; the second lock is shot. 1833Marryat P. Simple ix, One of the midshipmen shot the bolt of the door. 1886J. Paton in Encycl. Brit. XXI. 144/2 Safe bolts are shot not by the key, as in an ordinary lock, but by the door handle. 1894A. Robertson Nuggets 92 Annie ran to the stable, shot the wooden bolt, and went in.
b. intr. Of a bolt: To slide into its fastenings; to admit of being shot.
1886J. Paton in Encycl. Brit. XXI. 144/2 The frame..into which the bolts shoot is made of great strength. Ibid., In all Chubb's safes bolts shoot both to front and back.
14. trans.
a. Weaving. To pass (the shuttle, the weft) between the threads of the warp. Also in figurative context.
1603Holland Plutarch's Mor. 337, I suppose that a weaver will say that his worke is to make a web,..and not to..lay his warpe, shoot oufe, or [etc.]. 1612Beaum. & Fl. Coxcomb v. i, An honest Weaver, and as good a work-man as ere shot shuttle. 1839Hallam Lit. Eur. iv. v. §46 Lines of consummate excellence are frequently shot, like threads of gold, through the web. 1849Robertson Serm. Ser. i. xxi. (1866) 351 The woof of life is dark..but..shot through a web of brightness. 1888J. Paton in Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 464/1 A clear way is thus provided for picking or shooting the shuttle. 1895R. W. Frazer Silent Gods (1896) 58 The weaver still sang as he quickly shot the shuttle with the weft through the warp.
b. To variegate by admixture of different coloured threads in the woof. Hence, in wider sense, to variegate (an expanse of colour) by interspersing streaks or flecks of some other colour.
1532–3Act 24 Hen. VIII, c. 2 The same wollen clothes [shall]..be perfectly boyled grayned or maddered vppon the wodde and shotte, with good and sufficient corke or orchall. 1566Churchw. Acc. St. Dunstan's Canterb. in Archæol. Cant. XVII. 120 One couerlyt shot wyth blew and red. 1684Lond. Gaz. No. 1944/4 A Petticoat of Musk coloured Silk, shot with Silver on the right side. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 116 ⁋8 Carnation shot with white. 1856H. H. Dixon Post & Paddock xiii. (1860) 272 Mundig's stock are nearly all chestnuts, many of them shot with white hairs. 1860Sala Baddington Peerage I. i. 26 His stiff, black hair a little shot with gray. 1863B. Taylor H. Thurston xv. 192 The canes of maize shot the brown fields with points of shining green. 1882Garden 7 Oct. 312/2 Of older flowers we have..Burgundy, rich dark puce, shot and suffused with light purple [etc.]. 1895Jrnl. R. Inst. Brit. Architects 14 Mar. 347 The Saviour was dressed in a purple tunic shot with gold.
fig.1850Fraser's Mag. Sept. 244/2 Vague theory shot with technicalities. 1874L. Stephen Hours in Libr. (1892) II. iv. 109 The texture of Disraeli's writings is..ingeniously shot with irony.
15. Formerly, to send out, dispatch (persons) (now dial.: see Eng. Dial. Dict.). Now colloq., to convey or transfer (a person) with speed. Also to shoot (a person) about: to hurry (him) from place to place.
1542Becon Pathw. Prayer xxix. M vij, Therfore sayth Christ, praye vnto the Lorde of y⊇ Heruest, that he may shote forth workemen into his Heruest. 1895B. M. Croker Village Tales 71 You, as an officer's wife..are shot about from Colombo to Peshawar. 1919F. Hurst Humoresque 200 Come; I'll shoot you to the club. 1921E. B. White Let. 15 Sept. (1976) 24, I go to one person and he says hello and shoots me on to another. 1972T. Stoppard Jumpers i. 50 I'll shoot him in here... You can try your charms on him.
16. a. To emit swiftly and forcibly (rays, flames, etc.).
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints x. (Mathou) 157 Twa dragonyse, þat awful ware one to luke,..& blessis of fyre with brynt⁓stane at nese and mowthe þai schote owte. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. II. viii. 90 A maruellous gret Comet, quhilk toward the South schot fyrie stremes terrabillie. 1690T. Burnet Theory Earth iii. xii. 105 At the first opening of the Heavens, the brightness of his Person will scatter the dark Clouds, and shoot streams of light throughout all the Air. 1712–14Pope Rape of Lock i. 13 Sol thro' white curtains shot a tim'rous ray. 1727–46Thomson Summer 1371 The sun has lost his rage: his downward orb shoots nothing now but animating warmth And vital lustre. 1792S. Rogers Pleas. Mem. ii. (1801) 55 A cool, sequester'd grot, From its rich roof a sparry lustre shot. 1812Cary Dante, Parad. iii. 22 My sweet guide, who, smiling shot forth beams From her celestial eyes. 1823Scott Quentin D. iv, His keen eyes..shot forth occasionally a quick and vivid ray. 1833N. Arnott Physics (ed. 5) II. 187 A ray..shot from a to the point c, in the surface of a piece of glass g h, would reach directly across to o and b. 1839J. Sterling Sexton's Dau. i. xxxii, As if it were the cloven sky..Shot out its glory suddenly.
b. To put forth, utter (words, sounds); chiefly with adv., out, forth. Now only as transf. from sense 21.
a1225Leg. Kath. 812 Scheoteð forð sum word, & let us onswerien. a1250Owl & Night. 23 (Jesus MS.), Bet þuhte þe drem þat he were Of harpe & pipe þan he nere, Bet þuhte þat heo were i-shote Of harpe & pipe þan of þrote. c1470Henryson Mor. Fab. v. (Parl. Beasts) viii, He..Schot out his voce, full schill, and gaif a schout. 1546J. Heywood Prov. ii. iii. (1867) 48 But shoote out some woordes, if she be to whot. 1602Marston Ant. & Mel. ii. D 2 b, I would shoot some speach forth, to strike the time, With pleasing touch of amorous complement. 1657J. Smith Myst. Rhet. 143 Acclamo to cry out or shoot forth the voice. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair lx, Even Dobbin would shoot out a sudden peal [of laughter] at the boy's mimicry. 1848Dickens Dombey iii, Shooting out whatever she had to say in one sentence, and in one breath, if possible. 1886Stevenson Kidnapped iii, From time to time..he shot out one of his questions.
c. To cause (a pain, an emotion, etc.) to pass rapidly through.
1842Tennyson Godiva 58 Her palfrey's footfall shot Light horrors thro' her pulses. 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxxiii, This question shot a gleam of joy and triumph through Tom's soul.
17. a. To thrust (one's hand, a limb, a weapon, etc.) into something. Also to thrust out, forth, up, etc.
c1205Lay. 1876 Heo scuten [c 1275 soten] heora sconken [in wrestling]. 1375Barbour Bruce iii. 117 With that ane othir gan him ta Be the lege, and his hand gan schute Betuix the sterap and his fute. 1533Bellenden Livy ii. vi. (S.T.S.) I. 151 He schot his hand in þe fire. 1567Satir. Poems Reform. iii. 81 Unles ȝe now sharplie shuit out ȝour handis. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. II. ix. 186 Ilk schuteng his rapper in vtheris bellie. 1648Winyard Midsummer-Moon 1 His head is shot up, as if it would only converse with the Prince oth'aire. c1730Ramsay Boy & Pig 4 A greedy Callan..Shot his wee nive into the pot. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VIII. 174 They will be found to shoot forth their arms in every direction. c1850Croodin Doo in Chambers Pop. Rhymes Scot. (1870) 53 O it shot out its feet and died.
b. to shoot out: To protrude (the tongue, the lips), usually as an expression of mockery.
1535Coverdale Ps. xxii. 7 They shute out their lippes. 1688Boyle Final Causes ii. 69 The camelion..was to take his prey, by shooting out his tongue at the flies he was to live upon. 1840Macaulay Ess., Ranke (1851) II. 146 A sect laughing at the Scriptures, shooting out the tongue at the sacraments. 1857Livingstone Trav. i. 18 Away she would go with her lips shot out. 1865Swinburne Chastelard ii. i. 56 As at my Lord the Jews shot out their tongues. 1893Stevenson Catriona i. 12, ‘I thoucht ye had been a lad of some kind o' sense’, he began, shooting out his lips.
c. to shoot one's eyes: to gaze eagerly. rare.
1602Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. i, I should not shoote mine eyes into the earth, Poring for mischiefe.
d. to shoot one's cuffs or (formerly) linen (colloq.): to pull one's shirt cuffs out so that they project beyond the cuffs of one's coat. Also fig.
1878Yates in World 16 Jan. (Farmer), Adjust your curls, your linen shoot, your coat wide open fling. 1887Poor Nellie (1888) 104 He ‘shot his linen’ in style. 1889‘J. S. Winter’ Harvest 168 Major Pottinger..shot his linen till the bystanders..wondered if it was a new kind of conjuring entertainment. 1909Beerbohm Yet Again 230 The large young man, shooting his cuffs, strode forward. 1929W. Deeping Roper's Row iii. 25 You felt that you had shot your cuffs and scored a point when you wiped Moorhouse's stately eye. 1942L. A. G. Strong Unpractised Heart 27 The millionaire pulled out a gold pencil and shot his cuff. 1974S. Coulter Château i. xvii. 133 He shot his cuffs and walked resolutely towards Mademoiselle Aurélie. 1977J. Cheever Falconer 129 He shot his cuff to check the time.
18. To eject from the body.
†a. To eject (venom). Also of a spider: To eject (its thread).
c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxi. 143 Þai er euermare gapand, redy for to schote þaire venym. 1775G. White Selborne, To Barrington 8 June, Every day in fine weather..do I see those spiders shooting out their webs and mounting aloft. Ibid., Those filmy threads, when first shot, might be entangled in the rising dew.
†b. To discharge (excreta); also (see quot. 1688). Also to shoot one's belly, bowels. Obs.
1594Nashe Unfort. Trav. Wks. (Grosart) V. 160 So swelled Zadoch [with rage] and was readie to burst out of his skinne, and shoote his bowels like chaine-shot full at Zacharies face for bringing him suche balefull tidings. 1634–5Brereton Trav. (Chetham Soc.) 179 My mare chanced to eat some green corn, which did occasion her to shoot her belly, and scour intolerably. 1688R. Holme Armoury ii. 252/1 Terms in feeding cocks... Shuting the Body, is to purge it from its groser dung. 1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 84 It is a Sign, if he shoot off his Food very fast, that he gets too little Corn.
†c. absol. To have a looseness in the bowels.
1641Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 5 A weake lambe..will shoot and scowre allmost for the space of two dayes.
d. trans. Of a fish: To discharge (spawn). Also absol. (Cf. shot ppl. a. 1, shotten 3.)
1609Holland Amm. Marcell. 201 Fishes flocke..to this nooke of the Ocean, to breed and shut their spawne. 1884Goode Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim. 409 The Sea-Bass, when they come into the pounds in the spring, are full of spawn, ready to shoot.
e. intr. To ejaculate; orig. in phr. to shoot one's roe. slang.
1879–80Pearl (1970) 217 And the little creatures found, When they dragged him to the ground, That, while lecturing, he'd shot his noble roe, roe, roe. 1922Joyce Ulysses 553 Bloom: (His eyes wildly dilated, clasps himself). Show! Hide! Show! Plough her! More! Shoot! 1969[see come v. 17]. 1972H. C. Rae Shooting Gallery iii. 191, I wanted him to shoot and get it over.
19. a. Of a plant: To put forth (buds, leaves, branches, etc.). Chiefly with forth or out. Also fig.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 109 To shote forth y⊇ braunches of murmure, grudge [etc.]. 1535Coverdale Luke xxi. 30 Whan they now shute forth their buddes. 1611Bible Mark iv. 32 It..shooteth out great branches. 1657W. Coles Adam in Eden cx, Colts-foot shooteth up a slender stalk, with small yellowish Flowers. 1663Patrick Parab. Pilgrim xxix. (1687) 349 Rosemary and Sweet-Brier,..which shoot flowers, and dart forth Musk. 1719London & Wise Compl. Gard. 143 When a fine Fruit Branch shoots many others. a1766Complete Farmer s.v. Turnep 7 P 2/1 Apt to make the wheat shoot fresh ears. 1853M. Arnold Scholar Gipsy i, Nor let..the cropp'd grasses shoot another head. 1908[Miss E. Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 20 The largest round Lavender bush, soon to shoot forth buds and blossoms generously.
b. transf. Chiefly of an animal, etc.: To put forth (limbs, etc.); also fig. of immaterial things. to shoot the red: of a turkey-cock (see red n.1 1 d).
1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. iv. 238 Quhen this Pelagian hæresie..appeired to schute out the hornes ay wyder and wyder. 1739S. Sharp Oper. Surg. Introd. 31 The callous Edges softening, will, without any great Assistance, shoot out a Cicatrix. 1865Englishm. Mag. Feb. 155 He throbs and tingles as the new wings shoot their feathers. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 875 These..masses of epithelium..do not shoot downwards the root-like processes so characteristic of epithelioma of the malignant type.
c. To cause to grow or ‘shoot’; to make to spring up. rare.
1610Fletcher Faithf. Sheph. ii. i, All the verdant grass The spring shot up, stands yet unbruised here Of any foot. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 107 The Power..Who rules the year, and shoots the spindling grain.
20. With reference to stationary position: To throw out as a projection or protuberance; refl. to stand out, protuberate in a particular direction. † Also in passive, to appear as if thrust down.
13..K. Alis. 5953 He ne had noither nekke, ne throte, His heued was in his body y-shote. 1533Bellenden Livy i. xvii. (S.T.S.) I. 97 Throw quhilk þe wallis war schot out with mare magnificent boundis þan afore. 1603Owen Pembrokeshire i. (1891) 5 Carmarthenshere that waye shooteinge it selfe on the Northeast. 1635D. Person Varieties i. 19 Where the mouth of a large valley endeth at the Sea..shooting as it were it selfe forth into the said Sea..there it should be more shallow. 1784Cowper To Mem. Halibut 17 Where Hibernia shoots Her wondrous causeway far into the main.
III. To send missiles from an engine.
(A Com. Teut. specialization of branch II.)
21. a. trans. To send forth, let fly (arrows, bolts, etc.) from a bow or other engine, or (bullets or shot) from a firearm. Const. at, † against, † to.
a900O.E. Martyrol. 15 Nov. 206 Hiᵹ sceoton hyra strælas on twa healfa tosomne. c1205Lay. 6487 Þa his flæn weoren iscoten þæ iwærd his boȝe to-broken. c1330Arth. & Merl. 317 Þer was mani arwe yschote. 1338R. Brunne Chron. (1725) 178 Oft tille our Inglis men was schewed a mervaile grete, A darte was schot to þem, bot non wist who it schete. c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋ 500 If a man, by caas or aventure, shete an arwe or caste a stoon with which he sleeth a man, he is homicyde. c1450Merlin xi. 167 Than he shette a-nothir bolte, and slowgh a malarde. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 94 Tho was drawen & shotte many an arowe. 1549Compl. Scot. xv. 131 Siklyik ane preist of turque callit deruis schot ane bolt befoir the port of tempil contrar basit. c1643Ld. Herbert Autobiog. (1824) 6 The principal outlaw shot an arrow against my grandfather. 1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 396 A third [cannon ball]..said to have been shot into the wall at the siege of Padua. 1769Pennant Tour Scot. (1774) 101 Elf-shots..are supposed to be weapons shot by fairies at cattle. 1819Scott Ivanhoe xxxi, The Templar's retreat was rendered perilous by the numbers of arrows shot off at him and his party.
b. fig. and in fig. context. to have shot one's bolt: to have done all that one can do. Proverb, a fool's bolt is soon shot: see bolt n.1 1.
a1100Prudentius in Zeitschr. f. deutsches Alterthum (1876) VIII. 38 Ða wæpna..ðe þæt yrre scet [miserat]. a1225Ancr. R. 60 Erest heo [lechery] scheot þe earewen of þe liht eien, þet fleoð lichtliche uorð, ase earewe þet is iviðered, & stikeð iðe heorte. Ibid. 62 Sikerliche vre vo, þe weorreur of helle, he scheot..mo cwarreaus to one ancre þen to seouene & seouenti lefdies iðe worlde. c1400Rom. Rose 1800 The thridde arowe he [the God of Love] gan to shete,..Into myn herte he did avale. 1586Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. i. 11 in Holinshed, But if I may craue your patience till time you see me shoot my bolt. 1621T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 89 Many others haue shot forth the like bolts and censures, whereof this is the totall summe and substance. 1652Benlowes Theophila ix. iii. 127 Hope be thy Bowe, thy Hand Love, Faith the Shaft; Let Hope shoot Faith to God with Loves strong Draft. 1852Househ. Words V. 577 [The winds] never cease to shoot at us their arrows barbed with the poison of rheum. 1901Daily Express 28 Feb. 4/5 The home players had shot their bolt, and in thirty minutes the Birmingham team added two goals.
c. With cognate object, to shoot a shot (or † a shoot). Now rare.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 11103 An carpenter þat hii sede þat sset þe ssute [MS. Add. þane schote] hii nome. c1400Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) iv. xxix. (1859) 61 But, soothly, they sheten neuer shotte. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. ii. (Arb.) 107 For in a rayne and at no marke, a man may shote a faire shoote. 1590Barwick Disc. Weapons 17 marg., The archer dooth require more time then dooth the firy weapon to shoot the first shoot. 1633T. Stafford Pac. Hib. ii. xiii. 208 All this while the Enemy shot not a shot. 1642–4Vicars God in Mount 193 They forced all the Musketeers..to..shroud themselves within their pikes, not daring to shoot a shoot. 1816Scott Old Mort. xxxii, May the hand be withered that shot the shot!
†d. To hurl or throw (a spear, etc.). Obs.
a1100Prudentius in Zeitschr. f. deutsches Alterthum (1876) VIII. 38 Þæt yrre scyt his spere onᵹean þæt ᵹeðyld. c1205Lay. 5690 And þa oðere hem scuten [c 1275 sote] to scærpe gares. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 50 ‘Aue, rabbi’, quaþ þat ribaud and reodes shotte at hus eyen. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. viii. 8 Their weapons are three dartes or long Iauelins, whyche they..doe shoote and throw with wonderfull dexteritie.
e. transf. To discharge, send forth like an arrow or a shot. Also fig. with obj. a glance, question, etc.
1612Drayton Poly-olb. ii. 69 When sharp Winter shoots her sleet and hardned hail. 1622Massinger & Dekker Virg. Martyr iv. i, Doe thine eyes shoote daggers at that man That brings thee health? 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. i. 358 She hurts most with those glances which are shot from a down-cast eye. a1700Evelyn Diary 2 Oct. 1658, A porcupine, of that kind that shoots its quills. 1816Scott Old Mort. xxxiii, The sullen and indignant glances which they shot at them. 1881Scribner's Monthly XXI. 268/2 She shot the question at him with a force which took away his breath. 1889Conan Doyle Micah Clarke 229 A wild race of fishermen..who..shot some rough West-country jest at me as I passed.
22. absol. and intr. To send forth missiles from a bow, firearm, or similar engine. † Also with forth.
993Battle of Maldon 270 Hwilon he on bord sceat, hwilon beorn tæsde. c1205Lay. 12574, & Bruttes weoren igærede & þene wal weoreden; heo scuten in, heo scuten ut, scalkes þer feollen. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 11218 Hii mette wiþ þis burgeis & bigonne to ssete vaste I wounded þer was manion. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 858 An herde of hertes sone þey met, Al a triste to schete, Brutus was set. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 91 Þey techiþ besiliche here children to ride and to schete. c1400tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. cxi. 111 Ordeyne þy wenges, on þe right syde of hem þat stryken and assayllen, and of þe left syde hem þat shoten. c1422Lydg. Serpent of Division (1911) 59 And somme with firye dartes and scharpe hokid arwis schetynge in þe eire. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 66 Than the archers of kynge saturne began to drawe & shote. 1569T. Preston Cambises 870 [Venus to Cupid] Shoot forth, my sonne; now is the time that thou must wound his hart. 1595Shakes. John v. vi. 2 Whose there?..speake quickly, or I shoote. 1668R. Steele Husb. Calling ix. (1672) 223 If a man stand on a tower and shoot downward, he that stands at the bottom of it and shoots upward, may fly above him. a1700Evelyn Diary 15 Oct. 1650, Sir Tho. Osborn..and Lord Stanhop shot for a wager of 5 Louis. 1753Jago Elegy on Blackbird in Adventurer No. 37 O! had he chose some other game, Or shot as he had used to do! 1899T. M. Ellis Three Cat's-eye Rings 123 They turned round to shoot, and a bullet from one of their muskets shrieked past Clayside's ear. 1907Galsworthy Country Ho. i. i. 2 Foxleigh; he's no good... But can't he shoot just! That's why they ask him.
b. intr. To engage in archery (in mod. use occas. in rifle-practice, etc.) as a sport or contest. † to shoot compass (obs.): see compass adv. 3 b.
c1205Lay. 24698 Summe heo gunnen lepen summe heo gunnen sceoten [c 1275 sceate] summe heo wræstleden. c1412Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 651 No more I hadde set þerby or roght, A wif or mayde or nune to deffoule, Than scheete, or pleyen at þe bal or boule. 1589Hay any Work A iij b, When the wether is foule, that men cannot go abroad to boules, or to shoote. 1801T. Roberts Engl. Bowman 293 To shoot down the butts, to begin at the furthest, and end at the shortest butt.
c. well shot! an applauding exclamation when a shooter hits the mark. Also used in sports involving the scoring of goals. Cf. sense 27. Also fig.
1640Sir E. Dering Carmelite (1641) 41 Your promise is of thoughts within, and your proof still of things done with⁓out. Well shot. Go to your Book again and study the point better. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. vii. i. 425 One day being shooting at Butts,..He hit the very mark. The Duke of Northumberland, being present,..Well shot my Liege, quoth he. 1981E. North Dames xiii. 255 ‘Well shot! Well shot!’ Some feeble cheering on the touchline.
d. Constructions. (a) to shoot at († also shoot after, shoot against, shoot on, shoot unto, shoot to) the mark or object aimed at.
to shoot at rovers: see rover1 1.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 474 Lamech..wurð bisne, and haued a man ðat ledde him..To scheten after ðe wilde der. c1290St. Sebastian 47 in S. Eng. Leg. 179 [The emperor] let archers to him scheote: ase it were to one marke. 1340Ayenb. 45 An archer uor þet he hedde ylore ate geme: nom his boȝe and ssat an heȝ aye god. c1400Laud Troy-bk. 7779 To schote at him so was he prest. c1450Mirk's Festial 64 But euer deþe sewyth hym wyth his bow drawen and an arow þeryn redy to choton at hym. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 147 He entryd among tharchers of the troians that shotte thikke on hym. 1496[see prop n.1 2 b]. 1497[see shell n.1 2 b]. 1538Starkey England i. iv. 105 Euer as a marke to schote vnto. 1576Gascoigne Spoyle of Antwerp Wks. 1910 II. App. 591 They of the Towne did not shote at the prince of Orenges Shippes. 1611Bible Gen. xlix. 23 The archers haue sorely grieued him, and shot at him. 1673[R. Leigh] Transp. Reh. 97 They fought for his crown when they shot at his person. a1715Burnet Own Time (1724) I. 242 Van Gheudt..shot against Bruntisland without doing any mischief. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VI. 96 They have stood to be shot at in flocks, without offering to move. 1816Scott Bl. Dwarf ii, Willie of Winton whom you shot at? 1908E. M. Gordon Indian Folk Tales ix. (1909) 85 A young man..asked me to shoot at an owl.
(b) to shoot with (also † shoot in) a bow, gun, etc.; also rarely with an arrow.
[c1205Lay. 16555 Nu ich hine [Hengest] ȝiue þe..& þet þine hired-childeren..scotien mid heore flan & his cun scenden anon. ]1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7735 He wolde..ssete [v. rr . schute, schete] also mid bowe & arblaste. c1440Promp. Parv. 445/2 Schetyn yn a bowe (v.r. shotyn with bowes) sagitto. 1530Palsgr. 704/2, I shote in any bowe, crosse bowe, or longe bowe. 1546J. Heywood Prov. ii. vi. (1867) 61 But many a man speaketh of Robyn hood, That neuer shot in his bowe. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 633 Sirnamed Strongbow, because hee shot in a bow of exceeding great bent. 1644Nye Gunnery (1647) 35 It is as easie to shoot in a great Gun as in a Musket. c1665Mrs. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1846) 22 He shot excellently in bows and guns, and much used them for his exercise. a1700Evelyn Diary Sept. 1646, Here I first saw huge balistæ or crosse-bows shot in.
(c) to shoot at († shoot to, etc.) an object with a bow, gun, etc.; also with an arrow.
971Blickl. Hom. 199 Þa ᵹenam he his boᵹan..& ða mid ᵹeættredum stræle ongan sceotan wiþ þæs þe he ᵹeseah þæt hryþer stondan. c1290St. Cristopher 204 in S. Eng. Leg. 277 With bouwe and Areblast þare schoter to him four hondret knyȝtes and mo. c1440Gesta Rom. ii. xix. 335 (Addit. MS.) The knyght..shotte to [Cambr. MS. shot at] hym with an arowe, and slough hym. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 740 They shoot at the Fish with their darts. 1873B. Harte What B. Harte Saw in Fiddletown, etc. 100 There was a mark at which a few credulous people shot with a toy rifle.
(d) With adv. or phrase, to shoot beside, shoot far from, shoot near the mark; to shoot short, shoot straight, etc. Often fig.
1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 256 Hercules and many other shotte at most strayt and next the marke. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. i. (Arb.) 101 But to shoote wyde and far of the marke is a thynge possyble. 1546J. Heywood Prov. i. vi. (1867) 12 Ye mary (quoth he) nowe ye shoote nie the pricke. 1577Harrison England iii. i. [ii. vi.] 95 b in Holinshed, Wherein they [sc. foreign writers] haue shot so farre wyde as the quantity of ground was betweene themselues and their marke. 1585Queen Elizabeth Let. to Jas. VI (Camden) 17 Who seaketh two stringes to one bowe, he [printed the] may shute strong, but neuer strait. 1658W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. verse 15. iii. 335 Man he lets flie against God (though against his will he shoots short) whole vollies of sinnes and impieties. a1704T. Brown Ess. on Women Wks. 1711 IV. 155 But alas! how far do you shoot from the mark? [in answer to a question]. 1862‘F. G. Trafford’ City & Suburb iii. (1869) 22 He had shot wonderfully near the truth.
(e) In phr. to shoot to kill (cf. kill v. 6 c), implying the desire or intention to kill, rather than frighten or wound, a living target. Also shoot-to-kill adj. phr.
1867Harper's Mag. Feb. 274/2 Wild Bill with his own hands has killed hundreds of men... ‘He shoots to kill’, as they say on the border. 1949N. Marsh Swing, Brother, Swing iii. 48 Plays like he shoots an' he shoots to kill. 1956‘J. Christopher’ Death of Grass v. 79 ‘Must you shoot to kill?’ He began to say: ‘It's a matter of safety.’ 1973Black Panther 7 Apr. 10/3 LEAA was the liberal establishment's attempt to modernize police techniques as a substitute for ‘shoot to kill’ repression. 1977New Yorker 15 Aug. 67/1 A Cuban businessman..recalled favorably Mayor Richard Daley's calling for the National Guard and giving the police shoot-to-kill orders because of the Chicago riots.
(f) to shoot it out: to settle (a dispute) by shooting or by the exchange of military fire. Cf. fight v. 8.
1912W. M. Raine Brand Blotters xii. 327 Had he shown any sign of indecision, they would have taken a chance and shot it out. 1939War Illustr. 18 Dec. 458/3 Two gangsters have temporarily joined hands to plunder the wealthier citizens, on the understanding that they will ‘shoot it out’ between them later. 1949F. Maclean Eastern Approaches ii. iv. 221 To try and shoot it out with them would bring the whole place about our ears.
e. quasi-trans. to shoot a match: to engage in a shooting-match. Also to shoot off a tie: to decide a tie in a shooting-match by a supplementary contest.
1840D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rur. Sports §2763 Captain R. and Mr. S. then shot the tie off. Ibid., Two matches were then shot by Capt. Ross and Mr. Osbaldeston. 1859‘Stonehenge’ Shot-gun ii. 7 Lord Huntingfield,..and Mr. Bateson having repeatedly shot matches at Hornsey Wood House. 1861Temple Bar III. 266 This target was chosen for shooting off the ties at the long distances.
f. transf. intr. and trans. To take a snapshot (of) with a camera; to photograph (a scene, action, person, etc.) with a cinematographic camera; to take (cinematographic film), to film; occas. with the actor as subject.
1890Anthony's Photogr. Bull. III. 3 Beside him is another sort of shutter operator with an ordinary camera and fairly good shutter... Does he shoot when his companion did? 1892Photogr. Ann. II. 51 We at first tried the other method, namely, looking at the object and shooting at the critical moment. 1896Punch 30 May 264/2, I even bless the Kodak now With which, dear Nell, you ‘shot’ me. 1916‘B. M. Bower’ Phantom Herd ii. 22 He..debated whether it should be ‘shot’ with two cameras or three. 1919Conquest Dec. 70/2 First, the camera man ‘shoots’ on the tank containing the fishes with one half of the lens open. 1930E. Waugh Vile Bodies ix. 156 ‘All right,’ said one of the men with megaphones... ‘We'll shoot the duel now.’ 1953Manch. Guardian Weekly 27 Aug. 7/1 While the big-city exhibitors were pondering this expensive outlay a small studio in Hollywood shot a poor film with two interlocking lenses. 1962Montagu & Leyda tr. Nizhny's Lessons with Eisenstein iii. 66 Could the set-up be so changed as to shoot past Dessalines' back? 1976Observer (Colour Suppl.) 9 May 10/2 She has also shot the odd film here. 1978J. Krantz Scruples iii. 77 If anyone was going to go down to the Virgin Islands and shoot three models in next year's monokinis..it was Hank.
g. to shoot a profile: see profile n. 4 e.
23. fig. and in figurative context.
a. With reference to metaphorical arrows or darts, e.g. of love, temptation, affliction.
a1000Minds of Men 35 He..hyᵹegar leteð, scurum sceoteþ. c1200Ormin 3839, & ȝiff he [the devil] seoþ þe mann forrdredd, He wile himm skerren mare, & ræfenn himm his rihhte witt, & shetenn inn hiss heorrte. c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋714 An ydel man is lyk to a place that hath no walles; deueles may entre on euery syde and sheten at hym at discouert, by temptacion on euery syde. c1400Rom. Rose 1777 And whanne that love gan nyghe me nere, He..shette at me with all his myght. 1895R. W. Chambers King in Yellow (1909) 255, I think..that he [Cupid] does shoot fairly—yes, and even gives one warning.
†b. to shoot at: to assail with censure or contempt. Obs.
c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. lii. vi, The just shall..shoote at thee With scornfull glances. c1640H. Bell Luther's Colloq. Mens. (1652) 113 The Turks and Jews do acknowledg God the Father, but it is the Son that they shoot at. 1643Baker Chron., Eliz. 57 The Queen conceiving, that through the sides of the Prelates, she her self was shot at, suppressed them what she could. c1660South Serm. (1715) I. 28 If it is a Pleasure to be envyed and shot at, to be maligned standing,..then it is a Pleasure to be great.
c. to shoot at (with express or implied reference to a metaphorical mark or target): (a) to aim at, to seek to have or accomplish; to aspire to, strive after (now arch.); † (b) to ‘drive at’, mean, to have reference to; † (c) to aim at imitating, follow the example of.
(a)c1407–10Hoccleve Min. Poems (1892) 58 But myn herte is euere bent To sheete at yow good wil in soothfastnesse. 1528Tindale Par. Mammon 30 The same is blynde and wotteth not what he dothe: erreth and shoteth at a wronge marke. a1568R. Ascham Scholem. ii. (Arb.) 127 Thou, that shotest at perfection in the Latin tong, think not thy selfe wiser than Tullie was. 1635R. N. tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. iii. 266 The Queene of Scots..easily understood that her destruction was shot at by this Association. 1647Trapp Mellif. Theol. 652 Their evil dissembled ambitious desires plainly declared..that they both shot at one and the same mark. 1888Stevenson Black Arrow iii. iii. 163, I shoot at no advantage to myself.
(b)1577tr. Bullinger's Decades i. ix. (1592) 84 For to this ende shoote all the exhortations of the Prophets and Apostles. 1583Babington Commandm. viii. (1590) 331 An equalitie of commodities present is plainely shot at in this law. Ibid. 347, I might recite the lawes of God,..which directly shoote at the shame of this sinne. 1629H. Burton Truth's Tri. 307 The maine thing Vega shootes at in this chapter.
(c)1515St. Papers Hen. VIII, II. 15 Bycause the Deputye useyth the said wrongfull extortion, all the noble folke of the lande shotes at hym, folowyth his wayes in that behalf, asmuche as in them is.
†d. To have an aim or reference (beyond something mentioned). Obs.
1680H. More Apocal. Apoc. 66 This part of the Vision therefore shoots beyond the Pergamenian and Thyatirian Interval of the church, and begins with the Sardian.
†e. to shoot over: to overshoot the mark. Obs.
1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xxiii. §20. 96 b, And certaynelye, it is an errour frequent, for men to shoot ouer, and to suppose deeper ends, and more compasse reaches then are.
† f. in certain proverbial phrases. Obs.
1530Palsgr. 704/2, I shote at all adventures, or at the unhappyest, Je tire a la volée. 1577F. de L'isle's Legendarie G iij b, Now in making warre against the Protestants, they shotte sundry wayes with owne selfe arrowe. 1624Massinger Renegado v. iii, Neither can I Be wonne to thinke, but if I should attempt it, I shoote against the Moone.
g. slang (orig. U.S.). to shoot off one's mouth: to talk indiscreetly or abusively; to talk unrestrainedly or at length, to assert one's opinions; to boast or brag. Also to shoot one's mouth off and similar phrases.
1864Rocky Mountain News (Denver, Colorado) 3 Aug. 4/2 A Dutch married woman..was taxed $17·80 for ‘shooting off her mouth’ against the virtue and morality of a neighbouring maiden. 1880News & Press (Cimarron, New Mexico) 8 Apr. 1/5 Nobby, you've..never yit shot off yer mouth on the marryin' biz. 1890N. P. Langford Vigilante Days I. 295 Why, you fool; there you go, shooting off your mouth to me the first thing. Didn't I caution you not to tell any one? 1896S. Crane Maggie xi. 86 Youse fellers er lookin' fer a scrap, an' its like yeh'll fin' one if yeh keeps on shootin' off yer mout's. 1919O. W. Holmes Let. 5 Apr. (1964) iii. 184 They make me want to write a letter to ease my mind and shoot off my mouth; but of course I keep a judicial silence. 1933D. L. Sayers Murder must Advertise x. 165 That don't prove nothing... Not without you know 'ow long it took Mr. Tompkin to shoot 'is mouth off. 1946E. O'Neill Iceman Cometh ii. 99 He ought to do it, and not just shoot off his old bazoo about it. 1954Wodehouse Jeeves & Feudal Spirit xiii. 123 So this was how the woman was accustomed to shoot off her bally head about me in my absence. 1967Boston Globe 5 Apr. 51/5 The only way we can keep Red..quiet is to beat Boston... I'm tired of hearing him shoot off his mouth. 1973W. J. Burley Death in Salubrious Place i. 24 With Matthew Eva shooting his mouth off about Peters it could turn ugly.
h. trans. and intr. To inject by means of a hypodermic syringe (used esp. with reference to the taking of addictive drugs). Also refl. Freq. const. up. slang (orig. U.S.).
1914Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 75 Shoot, verb, current amongst hypodermic habitues. To inject morphine or other drug with a syringe. Example; ‘How many times do you shoot a day?’ 1926J. Black You can't Win xii. 161 They grew so despondent over their plight..they decided to ‘shoot up’ the small portion of white stuff they had left. 1951Life 25 June 120/1 But furnishes hypodermics and other paraphernalia so he may ‘shoot himself’ on the spot. 1953W. Burroughs Junkie i. 23 He shot another syrette. Ibid. iii. 36, I began shooting in the main line to save stuff and because the immediate kick was better. 1969H. Waugh Young Prey iv. 65 The junkies..need a place to go where they can shoot themselves and where an expert can shoot the novices. 1971Oz May 5/2 They were using those needles man, they were shooting up. 1979R. Jaffe Class Reunion (1980) ii. iv. 204 He [sc. a dermatologist] would be the magician who would..peel off wrinkles, shoot silicone into laugh lines.
i. intr. To proceed, go ahead (with a speech, question, etc.), to ‘fire away’. Usu. imp., as an invitation to introduce a topic. Also trans. to direct (words); to say, speak; occas. imp. with it, and to shoot back, to riposte, retort. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1915Dialect Notes IV. 235 Shoot, imper., continue; go ahead. 1917Ade Let. 12 June (1973) 64 The other day a harelipped man working for me stopped me and said he wished to ask a question. I told him to shoot. 1920S. Lewis Main Street 121 ‘Shall we try ‘The Idylls of the King? They're so full of color.’ ‘Go to it. Shoot.’ 1934J. M. Cain Postman always rings Twice ii. 9, I shot it right close to her ear, almost in a whisper. ‘How come you married this Greek, anyway?’ 1935W. D. Hubbard Thousandth Frog 157 ‘Well,’ said Gratton. ‘Shoot it.’ 1942Amer. Mercury July 90 Dat what you shooting ain't worth a damn! 1951J. C. Fennessy Sonnet in Bottle vii. iii. 259 ‘I want to ask your advice about something.’.. Rupert said, ‘Well, shoot.’ 1974‘E. Lathen’ Sweet & Low xi. 112 ‘Where's Amory?’... ‘How do I know?’ Yeoman shot back. 1978H. Wouk War & Remembrance xxxvii. 388 ‘Can I pick your brain on one more point?’ ‘Shoot.’
j. Chiefly U.S. slang. to shoot the works: to effect something to the fullest extent; spec. to discharge the necessary business; to tell the truth, reveal all; to shoot the bull: to talk nonsense (cf. bull n.4 3); to shoot a line: see line n.2 13 g.
1922E. O'Neill Hairy Ape vii. 74 Can't youse see I belong? Sure! I'm reg'lar. I'll stick, get me? I'll shoot de woiks for youse. 1930Amer. Speech V. 197 (heading) Shooting the bull. 1946Mezzrow & Wolfe Really Blues i. 5 We had a yen..to strut and act biggity and shoot the works. 1951W. Stevens Let. 27 Dec. (1967) 735 We have people who seem to hand a list of names to a stenographer and tell her to shoot the works. 1972Maclean's Mag. Mar. 41/2 ‘Writes all my speeches,’ he'd say and slap me on the back. ‘Smart boy! He can sure shoot the bull.’
k. Bridge. To play abnormally in a tournament in order to achieve a high score, e.g. one needed to win a tournament.
1957M. Miles How to win at Duplicate Bridge vii. 318 Why do people invariably overbid when they are shooting? There are many better opportunities to shoot by underbidding. 1972Times 3 June 8/6 It was the 98th deal of a 100 board match and North South were ‘shooting’ for top scores.
l. To strive for, to aim at. U.S. colloq.
1967Technology Week 23 Jan. 15/3 The space agency is currently shooting for a nuclear engine that would operate for 1,000 hours before refueling. 1976Billings (Montana) Gaz. 20 June 6-e/2 Mississippi College long jumper Larry Myricks is shooting for a jump of 27 feet.
24. Of a bow, engine, or firearm:
a. trans. To send forth (a missile).
a1366Chaucer Rom. Rose 989 That bowe semede wel to shete These arowis fyve. 1547in Archæologia LI. 262 Brode fawcons shotinge iij shotte. 1679Blount Anc. Tenures 3 Catapulta, was an ancient warlike Engine to shoot Darts.
b. intr. To send forth missiles; to ‘carry’ a certain distance. Also, of a gun, to be discharged, go off (e.g. in a salute).
a1575Gascoigne Posies, Weedes Wks. 1907 I. 374 A peece which shot so well, so gently and so streight. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 124 Quhan thir proclematiounis war endit..than the trumpattis and schalmes blew and so did the arteilȝerie schuit and bellis rang. 1598Shakes. Merry W. iii. ii. 34 This boy will carrie a letter twentie mile as easie, as a Canon will shoot point-blanke twelue score. 1655Marquis of Worcester Cent. Invent. §67 To make Guns shoot. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xii. 68 The Piece directed by her Metal, will shoot about twice as far as when..set by a Dispert. 1846Greener Sci. Gunnery 406 We have seen American rifle-barrels, which were far from the straight..yet they shot well.
25. trans. To discharge (a bow, catapult, etc.), to fire (a gun or other firearm); also with off out. Const. at, † against, etc. spec. in gun-making (see quot. 1886).
1482Cely Papers (Camden) 113 All the gonnes yn the colle warkys and abowte the marttes were schett for joye. c1500Melusine xxi. 116 Oure galeyes..bygan of al partes to shutte theire gonnes. 1506Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. III. 203 To the pynouris of Leith quhilk carying the irn gun to the sandis to schut hir thair before the King. 1530Palsgr. 704/2 They have shotte fourscore peces agaynst this towre in lesse than halfe an houre. 1557Peebles Burgh Rec. (1872) 240 The counsall ordanis gif thair cum ony sodane fray to the toun..to James Frank to schoit ane goone. 1619W. Phillip tr. Schouten's Wonderf. Voy. 11 We shot two peeces, an houre betweene each shot, to call her. c1643Ld. Herbert Autobiog. (1824) 69 Then you may shoot off a Pistol in the Stable. 1826Scott Woodst. xvii, The malignants shooting their wall-pieces at us. 1833[Seba Smith] Lett. J. Downing iii. (1835) 42 Says he, ‘Can you shoot a rifle, Major?’ ‘Pretty considerable,’ says I. 1886Walsingham & Payne-Gallwey Shooting I. 71 The gun is now stocked and screwed, and then in the rough state is sent to the ground to be shot and regulated. Ibid. 75 A high-class gunmaker will spend days in shooting a gun in order to get its pattern and force up to the mark he considers requisite to make it a perfect weapon.
transf.1681Dryden Span. Friar v. ii, But man..should make Examples; Which like a Warning-piece must be shot off, To fright the rest from Crimes.
26. a. To propel (a marble, pellet, etc.) as from the thumb and forefinger. Also U.S., to throw a die or dice; to play at dice. colloq.
1820W. Irving Sketch Bk. (1821) I. 47 Rip Van Winkle..taught them to fly kites and shoot marbles. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i. v, Some of whom were..shooting pellets, or digging their forks through the tablecloth. 1909Webster 526/1 The caster throws or ‘shoots’ the dice, and wins if the throw is 7 or 11. 1929Amer. Mercury Sept. 49/2 We got to stop shootin' dices. 1932W. Faulkner Light in August 34, I would have thought that maybe shooting dice would be the one thing he could do. 1940― Hamlet 258 Vagrancy or razor fights or shooting dice for ten or fifteen cents.
b. U.S. colloq. To play (a game), as in to shoot pool, shoot casino, etc. Cf. to shoot crap(s) s.v. crap n.4 1, craps.
1926E. Hemingway In our Time 183 They talk and tell stories and shoot pool. 1935A. Squire Sing Sing Doctor xiv. 207 Perhaps he goes for a walk, or attends a movie, or shoots a practice game of pool. 1949A. Miller Death of Salesman i. 48 Come in later, we'll shoot a little casino. 1979R. Jaffe Class Reunion (1980) ii. ii. 187 He liked to dance, play golf, drink, shoot skeet, and laugh.
27. Sport.
a. To kick, hit, drive (the ball) at goal. Also with goal, basket, etc. as object.
1882Daily News 4 Mar., The last-named shot it [the football] between the posts. 1885Field 24 Jan. 108/2 On restarting Marlow again shot the ball through the posts. 1900Springfield Daily Republican 4 Dec. 3/1 Both teams warmed up slowly and played open polo. Curtis shot the first goal in from the side. 1901A. Farrell Ice Hockey & Polo Guide 54 This sudden movement surprises the man and he is liable to shoot the puck inaccurately. 1908in H. A. Fisher Basket Ball Guide 1908–9 67 It was he who shot Williams' two baskets in the first overtime period. 1935F. Hewitt Down Ice (rev. ed.) iv. 88 The best play is to shoot the puck at the boards and jump ahead to receive the carom. 1975New Yorker 7 Apr. 112/2 He went over to shoot some baskets by himself, and while he was doing this it suddenly hit him that the game meant too much to him to give up.
b. intr. To kick or drive the ball at goal. Also in Croquet, to aim at a ball from a long distance.
1874J. D. Heath Croquet-player 65 But Yellow is confident of hitting, so he shoots at Blue, and roquets him. 1890Field 1 Nov. 671/2 Hewitt soon after had a chance to equalise but shot over. 1900H. C. Needham Croquet 50 When thinking of taking a bisque, instead of shooting hard, shoot so as to hit, if possible,..but to lie quite handy if you miss. 1901Daily Express 18 Mar. 8/1 Both sides being too excited to shoot straight. 1917N.Y. Times 4 Feb. viii. 1/5 The Aggies won the game in the final period when D. Ross shot at random from the centre of the rink. 1929J. G. Buss Basketball vi. 71 Shoot high—and do not aim at the rim of the basket. 1951Netball (‘Know the Game’ Series) 28/2 The player..must..aim directly at the goal... If she shoots and then catches the ball again, she must not shoot again directly. 1978Washington Post 26 Oct. a 19/5 The ‘problem’ is that the girls' game has only forwards and guards, and the three guards do not shoot.
c. Golf (orig. U.S.). trans. To record (a score) for a round or part of one; also to shoot a birdie, to achieve a score of one under par for a hole. Also intr.
1922Golfers Mag. Aug. 28/1 This class of golfers, the fellows who shoot from 90 up, make golf possible in this country. 1923[see birdie n. 2]. 1933Amer. Golfer July 34/1 How about birdies and eagles?.. In order to shoot a birdie, you'd have to play the hole in 3.3 strokes. 1941Sat. Even. Post 19 Apr. 118/3 They shot a twelve-under-par score in winning their first match. 1977Rolling Stone 5 May 47/5 He played a round every day, shooting in the low 100s.
IV. To assail, wound, or kill with a shot.
28. a. trans. To wound or kill with a missile from a bow or firearm (in early use, occas. with a spear or javelin). Const. with. † Also, to assail with arrows or gunshot: = to shoot at (see 22 d).
The simple verb is now often used where formerly the fuller expression ‘to shoot dead’ or ‘to death’ would have been preferred (see b); e.g. with reference to the infliction of death as a penalty.
c893ælfred Oros. iv. vi. §7 Ac þonne hie [the serpent] mon sloᵹ oþþe sceat. 993Battle of Maldon 143 Ða he oþerne ofstlice sceat. c1205Lay. 313 He wende to sceoten [c 1275 sceote] þat hea der. a1250Owl & Night. 1121 If þu art i-worpe oþer i-scote [Cott. MS. i-shote], Þenne þu myht erest to note. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 242 As he wolde ssete [v.r. scheten] an hert al aȝen is wille, To deþe he sset [v.r. scheet] his owe fader. 13..K. Alis. 6345 They buth archeris with the beste, And scheoteth [Laud MS. shoten] theo gryp in his neste. a1340Hampole Ps. x. 2 That thai shote in myrke the right of hert. a1400Sir Perc. 213 He wolde schote with his spere Bestes and other gere. c1460Frere & Boye 84 in Ritson Anc. Pop. Poetry 38 Than sayd the boye..It is best that I haue a bowe, Byrdes for to shete. 1561S. Wythers tr. Calvin's Treat. Relics H j, But they muste also make reliques of the arrowes wher with he was shotten. 1617Moryson Itin. ii. 49 My Lord himselfe had his horse shot under him. 1650Cromwell Let. 25 Sept. in Carlyle, They have done us no harm, except one soldier shot (but not to the danger of his life). 1678Sir G. Mackenzie Crim. Laws Scot. i. xix. §15. 208 It should be unlawful to kill or shoot them, as it is to shoot or hunt other wild beasts. 1709Lawson Voy. Carolina 151 The bald, or white Faces are a good Fowl. They cannot dive and are easily shotten. 1765Ld. Holland in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1843) I. 382 But there is no use in the D. of Bolton's shooting himself. 1807J. Hall Trav. Scot. II. 425 A variety of other beautiful birds which we shot with water, not to spoil their plumage. 1809–10Coleridge Friend (1865) 211 Do you hesitate to shoot a mad dog? 1838Murray's Handbk. N. Germ. 482/1 The duke was inhumanly shot, 6 days after. 1842Tennyson Audley Court 40 Oh! who would fight and march and counter⁓march, Be shot for sixpence in a battle-field. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xlv, Mr. James, the Colonel, and Horn, the keeper, went and shot pheasants. 1873Chamb. Jrnl. 20 Dec. 802/2 A man who was shot on leaving a ballroom told me that he could not guess who was his assailant. 1896A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad lvi, Fly I would, for who would not? 'Tis sure no pleasure to be shot.
b. Amplified with dead or to death added.
c1205Lay. 254 For his ahne sune seoþen hine sceat [c 1275 set] to deaþe. c1290St. Christopher 203 in S. Eng. Leg. 277 To a piler he let him binde faste and knyȝtes a-boute him go, For-to scheoten him to deþe with Mani a kene flo. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 3 Sum Invyand vthir with maist crewell feid with sword and dag to schut him to the deid. 1617Moryson Itin. ii. 37 Condemning to bee shot to death an Irish Lieutenant. 1697W. Dampier Voy. I. 2 We gave out, that if any man faultred in the Journey over Land he must expect to be shot to death. 1719Ozell tr. Misson's Mem. & Observ. 226 Deserters are shot to Death. 1836J. Richardson Jrnl. Brit. Legion iv. 116 A priest..was publicly shot to death without the walls of that city. 1863W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting viii. 317, I shot him dead in two bullets. 1863Twistleton in W. Smith Dict. Bible III. s.v. Zidon, He betrayed into the king's power one hundred of the most distinguished citizens of Sidon, who were all shot to death with javelins.
c. To hit or wound with a shot in (or † into) or through a part of the body.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7483 Þe ssetare donward al uor noȝt vaste slowe to gronde So þat harald þoru þen eie issote [v.r. shotte] was deþes wounde. 14..in Hist. Coll. Cit. Lond. (Camden) 58 At the Castelle Gaylerde in Normandy he was schottyn thorowe the hedde. c1440Gesta Rom. i. i. 3 (Harl. MS.) He hath y-schotte him selfe in þe lungen, and lyeth ded. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. iv. 250 The king passing furth to do his eise..in the heid he is schott. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. vii. §80 Hambden..being shot into the shoulder with a brace of bullets. 1649Heylin Relat. & Observ. ii. 255 A party of Horse..shot an old Woman into the head. 1761Hume Hist. Eng. lxi. III. 323 Tromp..was shot through the heart with a musket ball. 1771Goldsm. Hist. Eng. I. 133 Harold..was shot into the brains by an arrow. 1816Tuckey Narr. Exped. R. Zaire iv. (1818) 141 He had been taken..by a slave catcher, who had shot him in the neck with a ball.
d. to shoot flying: to shoot (birds) on the wing. Now usually absol., as denoting a sportsmanlike accomplishment.
1698Fryer Acc. E. Ind. & P. 291 Flocks of Water Fowl, which the Persians are skill'd..to shoot flying. 1707Farquhar Recruiting Officer i. ii, I can do every thing with my father, but drink and shoot flying. 1852Thackeray Esmond i. xi, He had learned to ride, and to drink, and to shoot flying.
†e. To hit (a thing) with shot. Obs.
1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 218 He also, with a Fire-lock, shot an Apple, which he had caus'd to be cast into the Air.
29. intr. To engage in or practise the sport of killing game with a gun (formerly with a bow or the like).
a1300K. Horn 939 Til o dai þat he ferde To wude for to schete. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 13 This Island, as all the rest of the Archipelago, being full of Game, we went a shore to shoot. 1766Earl of March in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1843) II. 82 Cadogan and Thomond are gone into the country to shoot. 1820J. W. Croker Diary 27 Jan. in C. Papers (1884) I. 156 Huskisson, Peel and I were to have gone to-day to shoot at Sudbourne with Lord Yarmouth. 1862Lillywhite's Cricket Scores & Biogr. I. 303 He also shot with a license for fifty years, which can be recorded of few sportsmen. 1908R. Bagot A. Cuthbert xviii. 225, I have read of your English country life—and of how the women ride and shoot.
30. trans. With advs. and advb. phrases.
a. With away, off, out: To remove or separate from its place or environment by shooting; to carry away, destroy, or break off by a shot. Also to shoot to pieces and similar phrases. Cf. blow v.1 24.
1340–70Alisaunder 277 A schaft with a scharp hed shet oute his yie. 1615R. Cocks Diary (Hakl. Soc.) I. 63 A Duch marener..had his hand shott offe and his face all batterd. 1632Lithgow Trav. ii 62 We shot away their middle mast. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 73 He will..fix ye a Couple of new [Ship's] Knees, when the old ones are shot to the Devil. 1849W. S. Mayo Kaloolah vii. (1850) 65 People had been shot all to pieces and survived. 1859C. Knight Pop. Hist. Eng. V. xx. 309 His..equerry had his head shot off by a cannon ball. 1901D. B. Hall & Ld. A. Osborne Sunshine & Surf v. 55 The man-of-war fired fifteen shots before they shot away the flagstaff. 1939R. G. Collingwood Autobiogr. vi. 49 A philosophical doctrine was stuck up and shot to pieces by the ‘realistic’ criticism. 1946W. H. Auden in Harvard Alumni Bull. 15 June 707 And nerves that never flinched at slaughter Are shot to pieces by the shorter Poems of Donne. 1955E. Pound Section: Rock-Drill xcii. 81 Semele's personality shot to atoms. 1973Black Panther 31 Mar. 2/1 These same pilot officers..are now being encouraged to avenge their injured pride which was shot to hell because many of the anti-war enlisted men were Black. 1979Homes & Gardens June 81/1 The Season has been shot to pieces this century.
b. to shoot (a person, thing) through: to pierce with a shot. to shoot..through and through: to riddle with shot; also † fig. to overwhelm with exactions.
1535Coverdale Exod. xix. 13 There shal no hande touch it, but he shall either be stoned, or shot thorow. 1599Hakluyt Voy. II. ii. 106 We..at last shooting her maine-yard through, she came to an anker and yeelded. c1643Ld. Herbert Autobiog. (1824) 19 The English shot her [the Spanish ship] through and through so often that she run herself aground. 1690Wood Life 31 Dec. (O.H.S.) III. 348 Complayning..against the salaries and pensions paid to great persons, officers, etc. who pay no taxes,..while the country is shot thro and thro.
c. to shoot (a person) down: to kill by a shot (usually with suggestion of merciless cruelty or determination); to bring down (an aircraft, hence a pilot, etc.) by shooting; (freq. in phr. to shoot down in flames). Also fig., to overwhelm (a person) in argument, to destroy (an argument or theory); to assail with objections; to bring down to size.
1845J. Coulter Adv. in Pacific xiii. 175, I have witnessed several of their battles, and it appears to be the first object to shoot down, or otherwise kill a man. 1897Sir G. T. Goldie in Times 23 Jan. 13/1 It is more humane to shoot down promptly a few running carriers than to sacrifice the lives of some 2,000 men of a column. 1918W. A. Bishop Winged Warfare xii. 160, I turned on the nearer of the two-seaters and..managed to shoot him down. 1928E. Wallace Tam iii. 29 Captain Muller shot down his twenty-seventh aeroplane. 1943N. Balchin Small Back Room 5 ‘Just army conservatism,’ he said wearily. ‘Just the army's usual trick of shooting things down.’ 1943C. H. Ward-Jackson It's a Piece of Cake 54 Shot down in flames, hopelessly beaten at anything. 1948Daily Tel. 26 May 4/5 Another enemy aircraft was shot down in flames. 1958Times 18 Dec. 11/4 To be shot down in flames may be an exaggerated description of getting the worse of an argument. 1959Listener 3 Sept. 351/1 This is the way in which we shoot down cosmological theories. 1962J. F. Powers Morte d'Urban iv. 98 He had no choice but to shoot the woman down. 1969M. O'Brine Mills xi. 43 She, herself, had been a little shocked by his answer, but had secretly enjoyed seeing Eileen shot down in flames. 1977R.A.F. News 11–24 May 8/6 He saw..Baron von Richtofen, shot down. 1981J. B. Hilton Playground of Death vi. 81 Please shoot me down in flames if you think I'm making a bloody idiot of myself.
d. Naut. to be shot by the board: of masts, etc. (see quot. 1706). to be shot between wind and water: of a vessel, to receive a shot causing a dangerous leak; also slang (see quot. a 1700).
1613Beaum. & Fl. Philaster iv. i. (1620) 40 The wench has shot him betweene wind and water, and I hope sprung a lake. 1623Massinger Dk. Milan iii. ii, A she Dunckerke, that was shot before Betweene winde and weather. 1655Marquis of Worcester Cent. Invent. §12 A Ship not possible to be sunk though shot an hundred times betwixt wind and water by Cannon. 1692Capt. Smith's Seaman's Gram. i. xvi. 82 If a Ship lose her Masts in Fight, we say, her Masts were shot by the Board. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Shot 'twixt Wind and Water Clapt, or Poxt. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Shot by the Board, a Sea-Phrase, us'd when a Mast or Yard is broken by the Enemies Shot, in a Fight.
e. colloq. (orig. U.S.). to shoot up: to assail (a person, thing) by shooting; to terrorize or rampage around (a place). Also R.A.F. slang of an aircraft or its pilot: to dive over (a person, thing) as if or in order to attack.
1890Stock Grower & Farmer 18 Jan. 5/2 This so enraged the boys that they began shooting up the town. Ibid. 21 June 3/1 Three cowboys shot each other up. 1909Chambers's Jrnl. Feb. 104/1 Armed and masked men..took entire possession of it [sc. Princeton], ‘shot it up’ until opposition subsided. 1926Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 22 July 15/7 Paul Davis..wounded after ‘shooting up’ rooming houses here early yesterday morning, died in hospital today. 1937New Statesman & Nation 20 Feb. 288/2 Mr. Partridge is not quite so strong with regard to the slang of flying... I think..to shoot-up, to dive onto, and the wind-sock should all find a place. 1946D. Hamson We fell among Greeks xvii. 180 When he had finished unloading his parachutes and parcels, he would take a long circle round and ‘shoot us up’, i.e. dive and roar over us at less than fifty feet, and, as he zoomed up, dip his wings left and right in salute. 1973L. M. Boston Memory in House iv. 40 A squadron would roar over the house from which one plane swooped down to shoot us up. 1976Daily Tel. 5 July 1, The Air France airbus which was skyjacked..a week ago, was also ‘shot up’.
f. With out: to render (something) useless with a shot; spec. to puncture (a tyre), extinguish (a lamp) by shooting.
1972Daily Tel. 9 Feb. 4/5 The vehicle was halted when police shot its tyres out. 1976D. Barnes Yesterday is Dead (1977) ii. 267 Couple of cut-'em-up family disputes and a guy that shot out fourteen street lights. 1977J. Cartwright Fighting Men viii. 102 He was sorely tempted to shoot out the plane's tyres.
31. slang or vulgar. I'll be shot (occas. shortened to shot!) if ―: used as a strong expression of denial or refusal. Similarly, I'll see you shot first.
1761Sterne Tr. Shandy IV. xiv. 85 Can'st thou carry Trismegistus in thy head... If she can, I'll be shot, said my father. 1803J. Kenney Raising Wind ii. i. 24 What a fine seal; and I'll be shot if it [sc. a letter] don't feel like a bank note. 1826Buckstone Luke the Labourer iii. i, Bob. He, he he! I'll be shot if Lunnun temptation be onything to this. 1852Dickens Bleak Ho. vii, I'll be shot if it ain't very curious how well I know that picture! 1860F. W. Robinson Grandmother's Money ii. iii, Shot, if I have not forgotten him too. 1894‘J. S. Winter’ Red Coats 56 Then..let me tell you straight, I'll just see you shot first.
32. Transferred uses.
a. To injure or kill by witchcraft. (Cf. elf-shoot v.)
c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 54 Ᵹif ðu wære on fell scoten oððe wære on flæsc scoten, oððe wære on blod scoten, oððe wære on lið scoten. 1790Burns Tam o' Shanter 167 For mony a beast to dead she shot.
b. fig. Of Cupid, love, etc.
1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 621 Than was Achilles shoten with the darte of loue. 1852Thackeray Esmond ii. x, One poor gentleman, who had been shot by her young eyes two years before. 1885–94R. Bridges Eros & Psyche Feb. xxvii, Whom gently Eros shooteth.
c. to shoot the sun: see quot.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Shoot the sun, To, to take its meridional altitude; literally aiming at the reflected sun through the telescope of the instrument.
d. slang. to shoot the cat: To vomit. shot in the neck (U.S.): drunk. to shoot one's grandmother (U.S.): see quot. 1855. to shoot the breeze (U.S.): to chat, talk idly. to shoot the crow (Sc.): to steal away without paying one's bill; to depart hurriedly, abscond, ‘do a bunk’ (see S.N.D.).
1785Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Shoot the Cat, to vomit from excess of liquor, called also catting. 1830Cherokee Phoenix (New Echota, Georgia) 21 Apr. 4/3 Counsel. What do you mean by corned? Witness. I mean, pretty well shot in the neck. 1855Haliburton Nature & Hum. Nat. xxii. II. 297 You showed her she had shot her grandmother. Footnote. Shooting one's granny, or grandmother, means fancying you have discovered what was well known before. 1855Brooklyn Jrnl. 18 Apr. (Bartlett 1860), Mr. Schumacher defended his client by observing that some of the prisoner's attorneys got as often ‘shot in the neck’, as the Under-Sheriff in the head. 1887Fun 8 June 246/2 A canny Scot was recently sentenced to ten days' hard for shooting the crow—i.e. ordering half-a-quartern of whiskey, drinking it rapidly, and neglecting to pay. 1941Guide to U.S. Naval Academy 149 Breeze, shoot the, to refight the Civil War, etc. 1943Sun (Baltimore) 4 June 30/2 He can..walk across the camp to meet some friend in another outfit, and ‘shoot the breeze’. 1971R. K. Smith Ransom (1972) iii. 113 There were other negative signs, too. No one had come by to shoot the breeze, to have a cup of coffee. 1973‘J. Patrick’ Glasgow Gang Observed xi. 97 He had been serving a sentence of twenty-eight days detention in the last week of which he had ‘shot the crow’ and ‘jolted’, i.e. absconded. 1977W. McIlvanney Laidlaw xliv. 206 There'll only be his mother in the house. His father shot the crow years ago.
33. a. intr. to shoot over or shoot to (a dog), to train by use on a shooting expedition. to shoot over (a cover, a tract of country), to kill game upon.
1868Field 4 July 22/1 For Sale, a Brace of..Spaniels..; they..have been thoroughly broken and shot to by an experienced breaker. 1888Century Mag. Mar. 671/2 This holiday he was about to spend in shooting over his two handsome young setters. 1894Times (weekly ed.) 19 Jan. 58/1 During his stay the Belvoir covers were shot over.
b. trans. To go over (a piece of country) shooting game. to shoot one's way: to shoot game as one goes along. to be shot out: of a district, to have its supply of game exhausted through overshooting.
1833T. Hook Parson's Dau. ii. vi, As the [shooting-] party at Colonel Bradfield's were shooting their way home. 1857G. A. Lawrence Guy Livingstone vi, We shoot an outlying cover after luncheon. 1865Ld. Malmesbury Mem. (1884) II. 333 We shot the park, and the Miss Jolliffes accompanied us. 1900I. Savory Sportsw. India 234 Gaggai was a sportsman's paradise, but it has been shot out. 1903Sir M. G. Gerard Leaves fr. Diaries v. 107, I shot my way through the Bheel country, from Ahmedabad..to Mhow.
34. In Mining, to blast. In the Oil Industry, to detonate an explosive charge in (a well) in order to increase the flow of oil or gas.
1830–60Eng. & For. Mining Gloss. 23 (Cornwall terms). c1870Scribner's Mag. III. 576 (Cent.), They [explosives] are used in the petroleum industry to shoot the wells, so as to remove the paraffine which prevents the flow of oil. 1872J. H. Collins Mining & Quarrying 112 Shutting or Shooting, blasting. 1903Dialect Notes II. 344 Shoot (the well), to cause an explosion of several quarts of nitro⁓glycerine at the depth of the pay-streak..so as to break and crack the oil rock, enabling the oil to flow faster from the pores. 1921Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 11 Mar. 12/3 The report states that in Ironville No. 1 a good showing of thick oil was obtained at various depths... It was decided to shoot this well, but owing to water it was not yet known what result this would have. 1949Our Industry (Anglo-Iranian Oil Co.) (ed. 2) ii. 52 Some rocks..containing oil are..compact and ‘tight’... In such cases the well is often ‘shot’ in order to shatter the rock.
V. Senses of uncertain position.
†35.
a. In OE.: To refer (a case) to a person or court; also absol.
b. In early ME.: To trust, to submit oneself to a person's mercy. Obs.
a1000in Thorpe Dipl. Angl. Sax. (1865) 288 Ða nolde he, butan hit man sceote to scireᵹemote. c1000ælfric Hom. (Th.) II. 306 Ðus wrat Hieronimus..ᵹif hwa elles secge, we sceotað to him. c1205Lay. 977 Ᵹif we sceoteð to heora mæðe Þat bið ure imone deað.
†36. trans. (or const. dat.). To fall to the lot of. Obs.
c1200Ormin 19952 Forrþi þatt he Ne wollde nohht forr⁓buᵹhenn To seggenn soþ biforr þe king, Þohh þatt himm shollde shetenn To þolenn forr hiss soþe word Full grimme dæþess pine.
37.
†a. To avoid, escape. Sc. Obs.
1543Sadleyr in St. Papers Hen. VIII, V. 321 The misdemeanour and evill behaviour of the Wardens of Scotland on the Borders towardes thobservation of the peax, with their delayes of redresse, shoting their dayes of meating, and continuall rodes and forreys made into England. 1685Peden Let. in P. Walker Life (1827) 98, I am confident, the safest Way to shoot the Shower, is, to hold out of God's Gate, and to keep within his Doors, until the Violence of the Storm begin to ebb.
b. colloq. (orig. dial.). In passive, to be rid of. Cf. shut v. 11.
1802R. Anderson Cumbld. Ball. (c 1850) 47 He'd gi'e aw his gear to get shot o' the gout. 1818Scott Br. Lamm. xxxii, Are you not glad to be fairly shot of him! 1837Carlyle in Froude Life Lond. (1884) I. 95 One infallible truth, precious for us all, is that I am shot of it [a book just finished], and you are shot of it. 1866Morn. Star 22 Dec. 3, I thought, when I came out, I would do this [murder], and so get shot of my life. 1891Hardy Tess x, ‘Jump up behind me’, he whispered, ‘and we'll get shot of the screaming cats in a jiffy!’ 1952‘R. Gordon’ Doctor in House i. 9 His love for his old hospital, like one's affection for the youthful homestead, increased steadily with the length of time he had been shot of it. 1976Daily Tel. 22 Sept. 16/1 Advising its members to make haste to get shot of unsuitable employees.
38. To splice (a rope); to mend (a bar); † to fit (boards) together by a mortise or the like (obs.); to weld (metals). Obs. exc. dial.
Cf. shut v. 6. In this use the vbs. shut and shoot seem to have been more or less confused.
1499Church-w. Acc., Yatton (Somerset Rec. Soc.) 124 To Antony for schothyng the clapyr xiijd. 1545Luton Trinity Guild (1906) 232 For shotynge of the tapers of the awtere ageynst relyk Sonday [0 0] 2. 1548Ludlow Church-w. Acc. (Camden) 33 For shottynge the belle rope ij tymes iiij d. 1569Ibid. 134 For shutting and mending of the clapper of the santes bell, iiij d. 1573–4in Fabric Rolls York Minster (Surtees) 116 For shootinge and mendinge certeyne barres to the glasse wyndowes, 4 d. 1608Willet Hexapla Exod. 605 These regals serued to shoot the boords together. Ibid., One boord should have been shot within another. 1888Sheffield Gloss., Shoot, to weld a piece of iron to the blade of a table knife. 1892[see shooting vbl. n. 6].
39. Carpentry and Joinery. To plane accurately (the edge of a board), esp. with the aid of a shooting-board.
1667Primatt City & C. Builder 61 For plaining the boards, and shooting them for a Square, two shillings. 1678Moxon Mech. Exerc. iv. 59 Two Pieces of Wood are Shot (that is Plained)... They are Shot or Pared..so exactly straight, that when they are set upon one another, light shall not be discern'd betwixt them. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §146 Slips of deal board..shot straight upon the edges by a plane. 1846Holtzapffel Turning II. 502 In squaring or shooting the edges of boards, the shooting board..is very much used. 1881Young Every Man his own Mechanic §384. 167 The Amateur unless he has a trying-plane will use his jack-plane for shooting the edges of boards.
VI.
40. The verb stem in combination: shoot-hole, a hole through which to shoot; shoot-rail (see quot.); † shoot-serpent (see quot.). Also shoot-off, the subsequent competition between tied contestants in a shooting-match.
1850R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (1902) 36/2 Having constructed a *shoot-hole..I took up my position for the night.
1892W. W. Greener Breech-Loader 250 The tie was immediately shot off at 25 birds each, Captain Brewer killing all his birds while Mr. Fulford scored 24, leaving Mr. Brewer..the winner of the *shoot-off by a single bird. 1900Westm. Gaz. 16 July 6/3 Three competitors tie with 34..the shoot-off takes place to-morrow.
1856P. Thompson Hist. Boston 722 Shottles, *shoot-rails. Rails easily removed in a fence, to make an entrance into an inclosure, and then shot (thrust) back again into their places.
1731Medley Kolben's Cape G. Hope II. 163 She is likewise call'd the Dart- or *Shoot-serpent, on account of her darting herself very swiftly either at or from an enemy.
Add:[I.] [4.] [a.] (e) to drive past (a traffic signal indicating that one should stop or slow down). Cf. jump v. 10 b, run v. 40 d.
1937Partridge Dict. Slang 761/1 Shoot the amber, (of a motorist) to increase speed when the amber light is showing, in order to pass before the red (‘stop’) light comes on. 1958Sunday Times 6 July 10/4 The mind races at 60 m.p.h. in a built-up area, so to speak, and shoots all the traffic-lights. 1972Police Rev. 10 Nov. 1463/1 The letter of the law required that such emergency vehicles should not ‘shoot the red lights’. 1986M. Howard Expensive Habits 112 Automotive fantasy he calls it at school, listening to his friends' tales of shooting stoplights, cruising down Colombus Avenue.
▸ intr. orig. U.S.to shoot from the hip: to fire a shot from a handgun instantly after drawing it from a holster, without taking proper aim; (in later use usu. fig.) to make a snap decision, to act or react impulsively, intuitively, or spontaneously; spec. to speak hastily, frankly, or without concern for the consequences.
1869Galaxy Mar. 739 Point your pistol quickly with your forefinger along the barrel; don't stop to take aim, but shoot at once from the hip. 1911J. London Inevitable White Man in South Sea Tales 249 They are not used to putting the guns to their shoulders. They wait until they are right on top of a man, and then they shoot from the hip. 1932W. H. Auden Orators ii. 66 Heathcliffe before you as the newspaper peer: I'm the sea dog, he said, who shall steer this ship.., I succour the State, I shoot from the hip. 1951Amer. Econ. Rev. 41 92 Sometimes problems can be studied at leisure. Very often, the executive has to shoot from the hip. 1971Wall St. Jrnl. 30 Apr. 2/3 He's convinced the Nixon administration failed to give enough study to a cost-price squeeze in steel before ‘shooting from the hip’ in criticising recent steel-price increases. 2000Arena July 17 Arena installed itself as the smartest, coolest, funniest, sexiest, brightest high-roller in the bar and has stayed there living the dream, punching above its weight, shooting from the hip for 100 issues.
▸ trans. fig.to shoot oneself in the foot and variants: to cause oneself difficulty or harm inadvertently; to make one's own situation worse.
In quot. 1959, as part of an extended metaphor.
1959W. Howells Mankind in Making vi. 97 Certain common useful phrases can be dangerous... Like guns, they will do the right thing in the right hands, but they are loaded, and ordinary citizens without Ph.D.'s are not the only ones who have accidents with them. Many a specialist has shot himself in the foot when he thought he was only cleaning a paragraph. 1976Aviation Week (Nexis) 5 Apr. 9 Why we seem to insist on shooting ourself in the foot over this issue, I'll never know. 1980Time 21 Jan. 22 Said Morton Sosland..of the grain embargo: ‘America has just shot itself in the foot.’ 1989Nursing Times 29 Nov. 22/2 Once again ministers have shot themselves in their collective feet by their obsessive desire to privatise everything. 1991A. Campbell Sidewinder i. 1 Sidewinder is a demon of a fairly high order—although from his ludicrous propensity to shoot himself in the foot you may find that hard to believe. 2001AXM Aug. 124/2, I did gain a few Brownie points when I told her I'm a journalist... But I proceeded to shoot myself in the foot by informing her that it doesn't pay anything more than chump change.
▪ V. shoot, int. U.S. slang.
An arbitrary alteration of shit int.
In some instances this may perh. be regarded as an imp. use of shoot v. 11 j.
1934Webster 2319/2 Shoot.., interj. Pshaw! Bother!—often with it. 1941E. Welty Curtain of Green 42 Oh, shoot, that was about three and a half years ago. 1950R. Moore Candlemas Bay 301 ‘Oh shoot,’ she told Jen, when Jen suggested they'd better write the next batch of boarders not to come. 1979Tucson Mag. Feb. 42/1 Back in high school, I tried other so-called sports, but I always went back to rodeo. Shoot, that's the only sport there is.
▪ VI. shoot
obs. f. sheet n., shout, shut.
▪ VII. shoot
variant of shoat1 and shoat2. |