Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A slender, pointed missile, often having tail fins, thrown by hand, shot from a blowgun, or expelled by an exploding bomb.
  • noun Games A game in which such missiles are thrown at a target.
  • noun An object likened to such a missile.
  • noun The stinger of an insect.
  • noun A sudden, rapid movement.
  • noun A tapered tuck sewn to adjust the fit of a garment.
  • intransitive verb To move suddenly and rapidly.
  • intransitive verb To be directed suddenly and rapidly.
  • intransitive verb To cause to dart.
  • intransitive verb Archaic To throw or cast (a dart or missile).
  • intransitive verb To cast (a look or the eyes) suddenly and rapidly in a direction.
  • intransitive verb To shoot (an animal, for example) with a dart, especially to inject a drug.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To throw with a sudden thrust, as a pointed instrument.
  • To throw or thrust suddenly or rapidly; emit; shoot: as, the sun darts forth his beams.
  • To pierce; spear; transfix.
  • To have the piercing movement or effect of a dart; move swiftly, like a dart.
  • To spring or start suddenly and run swiftly: as, the deer darted from the thicket.
  • noun A pointed missile weapon thrown or thrust-by the hand; a small and light spear or javelin, sometimes hurled by the aid of a strap or thong.
  • noun A kind of eel-spear.
  • noun A spear set up as a prize for victory in running or other athletic contests.
  • noun Anything like a dart in shape, use, or effect.
  • noun In conch., a love-dart, or spiculum amoris
  • noun One of various moths, so called by British collectors
  • noun A seam uniting two edges of stuff from between which a gore has been cut away: designed to shape a garment to the figure.
  • noun Figuratively, a piercing look or utterance.
  • noun A sudden swift movement.
  • noun Same as dace, 1.
  • noun Plan; scheme.
  • noun Idea; ‘style’; fancy: as, “strawberries and cream, eh!—that's my dart.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To throw with a sudden effort or thrust, as a dart or other missile weapon; to hurl or launch.
  • transitive verb To throw suddenly or rapidly; to send forth; to emit; to shoot.
  • intransitive verb To fly or pass swiftly, as a dart.
  • intransitive verb To start and run with velocity; to shoot rapidly along.
  • noun A pointed missile weapon, intended to be thrown by the hand; a short lance; a javelin; hence, any sharp-pointed missile weapon, as an arrow.
  • noun Anything resembling a dart; anything that pierces or wounds like a dart.
  • noun obsolete A spear set as a prize in running.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A fish; the dace. See Dace.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a sac connected with the reproductive organs of land snails, which contains a dart, or arrowlike structure.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A pointed missile weapon, intended to be thrown by the hand; a short lance; a javelin; any sharp-pointed missile weapon, as an arrow.
  • noun Anything resembling such a pointed missile weapon; anything that pierces or wounds like such a weapon.
  • noun Australia, obsolete A plan or scheme.
  • noun A sudden or fast movement.
  • noun sewing A fold that is stitched on a garment.
  • noun zoology A fish; the dace.
  • noun in the plural A game of throwing darts at a target.
  • verb transitive To throw with a sudden effort or thrust, as a dart or other missile weapon; to hurl or launch.
  • verb transitive To send forth suddenly or rapidly; to emit; to shoot
  • verb intransitive To fly or pass swiftly, as a dart; to move rapidly in one direction; to shoot out quickly

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, of Germanic origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French dart, from Germanic origin; compare Old High German tart ("javelin, dart"), Old English dara, daro, Swedish dart dagger, Icelandic darrar ("dart").

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Examples

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  • I've recently seen dart be used to describe cigarettes. First time I heard it was watching live streams of the Ottawa protests in 2022. And recently, saw an article about the 'dart board' a surfboard made of cigarettes.

    June 9, 2022