Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The firing or discharge of a weapon, such as a gun.
- n. The distance over which something is shot; the range.
- n. An attempt to hit a target with a projectile: His shot at the bear missed by inches.
- n. An attempt to reach a target with a rocket: a moon shot.
- n. Sports An attempt to score in a game, as in soccer or hockey.
- n. Baseball A home run.
- n. Sports & Games The flight or path of a projectile in a game.
- n. Sports & Games A stroke in a game, as in golf or billiards.
- n. A pointed or critical remark.
- n. Informal An attempt; a try: took a shot at losing weight.
- n. Informal A guess.
- n. Informal An opportunity: gave him a fair shot at the part in the play.
- n. Informal A chance at odds; something to bet on: The horse was a four-to-one shot.
- n. A solid projectile designed to be discharged from a firearm or cannon.
- n. Such projectiles considered as a group.
- n. Tiny lead or steel pellets, especially ones used in a shotgun cartridge.
- n. One of these pellets.
- n. Sports The heavy metal ball that is put for distance in the shot put.
- n. One who shoots in a particular way: a good shot with the rifle and the bow.
- n. A charge of explosives used in blasting mine shafts.
- n. A detonation of an explosive charge.
- n. A photographic view or exposure: got a good shot of that last model.
- n. A developed photographic image.
- n. A single cinematic take.
- n. A hypodermic injection.
- n. A small amount given or applied at one time: a shot of oxygen.
- n. A drink, especially a jigger of liquor.
- n. An amount to be paid, as for drinks; a bill.
- n. Nautical A length of chain equal to 15 fathoms (90 feet) in the United States and 12 1/2 fathoms (75 feet) in Great Britain.
- v. To load or weight with shot.
- idiom. like a shot Very quickly.
- idiom. shot in the arm Informal Something that boosts one's spirits.
- idiom. shot in the dark Informal A wild unsubstantiated guess.
- idiom. shot in the dark Informal An attempt that has little chance of succeeding.
- v. Past tense and past participle of shoot.
- adj. Of changeable or variegated color; iridescent.
- adj. Streaked or flecked with or as if with yarn of a different color: a blue suit shot with purple; a forest glade that was shot with sunlight.
- adj. Interspersed or permeated with a distinctive quality: Her apology was shot with irony.
- adj. Informal Worn-out; ruined.
- adj. Informal Exhausted; thoroughly tired.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A missile weapon; an arrow; a dart.
- n. A projectile; particularly, a ball or bullet; also, such projectiles collectively. Projectiles for large guns are seldom called by this name without some qualifying term: as, solid shot, round shot, grape-shot. The term properly denotes a missile not intended to explode, as distinguished from a shell or bomb. Projectiles of unusual character, but solid and not explosive, are usually called
shot with some descriptive word: as, bar-shot, buck-shot, chain-shot. - n. A small ball or pellet, of which a number are combined in one charge; also, such pellets collectively. They are made by running molten load combined with a little arsenic through a sieve, or pouring it from a ladle with a serrated edge from the top of a high tower (see
shot-tower ) into water at the bottom. The stream of metal breaks into drops which become spherical. To obviate the use of the high tower, various expedients have been tried, such as dropping the metal through a tube up through which a strong current of air is driven, or dropping it through a column of glycerin or oil. Such shot is assorted by sizes of the pellets, distinguished by letters (as BB. spoken double-B), or by numbers (usually Nos. 1 to 10 or 12), or by specific names (as swanshot, etc.). - n. The distance passed over by a missile or projectile in its flight; range: used, in combination with the name of the weapon, or missile, as a rough measure of length.
- n. Hence Range in general; reach: as, within ear-shot.
- n. Anything emitted, cast, or thrown forth; a shoot.
- n. Among fishermen, the whole sweep of nets thrown out at one time; also, one cast or set of the nets; also, the number of fish caught in one haul of the nets. See shoot, v. t., 11.
- n. A place where fishermen let out their nets. See shoot, v. t., 11.
- n. The act of shooting; discharge of, or the discharge from, a bow, gun, or other missile weapon.
- n. One who shoots, especially with a firearm. A man armed with a musket or harquebus, as distinguished from a pikeman, bowman, or the like; also, a number of men so armed, collectively.
- n. A marksman, especially with reference to his skill: as, a good shot; a crack shot; a wing-shot.
- n. In weaving, a single thread of weft carried through the warp at one run of the shuttle.
- n. A defect, of the nature of a streak, in the texture of silk and other textiles, caused by the interweaving of a thread or threads differing from the others in color, quality, or size. Compare shot, participial adjective, 3.
- n. In mining, a blast.
- n. A nook; an angle; a plot of land; specifically, a square furlong of land; a group of strips or allotments, each one furlong in length, and together a furlong in width, in the open-field system. See field.
- n. A move or stroke in a game, as in curling or billiards.
- n. A stitch in one's side.
- n. A handful of hemp.
- n. Spermaceti; whale-shot.
- n. Same as dropping fire (which see, under drop). Also called dropping shot.
- n. A length of rope as it comes from the ropewalk; also, the length of a chain-cable between two shackles, generally fifteen fathoms.
- To load with shot: as, to shot a gun.
- Preterit and past participle of shoot.
- Advanced.
- Firm; stable; secure.
- Having a changeable color, like that produced in weaving by all the warp-threads being of one color and all the weft of another; chatoyant. Silk is the usual material thus woven, but there are also shot alpaca and other goods.
- Same as shooted.
- n. A reckoning, or a person's share of a reckoning; charge; share of expenses, as of a tavern-bill.
- n. A supply or amount of drink, perhaps paid for at a fixed rate.
- n. The trout, Salmo fario.
- n. The grayling, Thymallus vulgaris. Also shut, shutt.
- n. An inferior animal taken out of a drove of cattle or a flock of sheep.
- n. A young hog; a shote.
- n. A Middle English past participle of shut.
- n. In athletics, a metal sphere, either with or without a covering, weighing in championship contests 16 pounds and in school contests 12 pounds, which a competitor ‘puts’ as far as possible beyond a ring within which he stands.
- n. In lawn-bowls, the point made by the ball which lies nearest the jack at the close of the head or innings.
Wiktionary
- adj. Worn out.
- adj. Woven from warp and weft strands of different colours, resulting in an iridescent appearance.
- adj. tired, weary
- n. The result of launching a projectile or bullet.
- n. The act of launching a ball or similar object toward a goal.
- n. The heavy iron ball used for the shot put.
- n. Small metal balls used as ammunition.
- n. An armor-piercing solid metal projectile having no bursting charge, that was in use mainly during World War II, more specifically called AP or armor-piercing shot.
- n. An opportunity or attempt.
- n. A remark or comment, especially one which is critical or insulting.
- n. A punch or other physical blow.
- n. A measure of alcohol, usually spirits, as taken either from a shot-glass or directly from the bottle, equivalent to about 44 milliliters; 1.5 ounces. ("pony shot"= 30 milliliters; 1 fluid ounce)
- n. A single serving of espresso.
- n. A single unbroken sequence of photographic film exposures, or the digital equivalent; an unedited sequence of frames.
- n. A vaccination or injection.
- n. A charge to paid, a scot or shout.
- v. simple past tense and past participle of shoot.
- interj. Thank you.
GNU Webster's 1913
- imp. & p. p. of shoot.
- adj. Woven in such a way as to produce an effect of variegation, of changeable tints, or of being figured. See shoot, v. t., 8.
- n. A share or proportion; a reckoning; a scot.
- n. The act of shooting; discharge of a firearm or other weapon which throws a missile.
- n. A missile weapon, particularly a ball or bullet; specifically, whatever is discharged as a projectile from firearms or cannon by the force of an explosive.
- n. Small globular masses of lead, of various sizes, -- used chiefly as the projectiles in shotguns for killing game
- n. The flight of a missile, or the distance which it is, or can be, thrown.
- n. A marksman; one who practices shooting.
- n. A cast of a net.
- n. The entire throw of nets at one time.
- n. A place or spot for setting nets.
- n. A single draft or catch of fish made.
- n. A spherical weight, to be put, or thrown, in competition for distance.
- n. A stroke, throw, or other action to propel a ball or other game piece in certain games, as in billiards, hockey, basketball, curling, etc.; also, a move, as in chess.
- n. A guess; conjecture; also, an attempt.
- v. To load with shot, as a gun.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a small drink of liquor
- n. an informal photograph; usually made with a small hand-held camera
- adj. varying in color when seen in different lights or from different angles
- n. a chance to do something
- n. an explosive charge used in blasting
- n. sports equipment consisting of a heavy metal ball used in the shot put
- n. an attempt to score in a game
- n. (sports) the act of swinging or striking at a ball with a club or racket or bat or cue or hand
- n. the act of firing a projectile
- n. a solid missile discharged from a firearm
- n. an aggressive remark directed at a person like a missile and intended to have a telling effect
- n. a blow hard enough to cause injury
- n. the launching of a missile or spacecraft to a specified destination
- n. an estimate based on little or no information
- n. a consecutive series of pictures that constitutes a unit of action in a film
- n. a person who shoots (usually with respect to their ability to shoot)
- n. the act of putting a liquid into the body by means of a syringe
- n. informal words for any attempt or effort
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Old English sceot, scot; see skeud- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“Keyana Bates murder 6/15/2009 Forest Park, IL * Victim was shot while in her car, another person in car was also shot*”
“It come upon me like a shot -- _my shot_ was nothing to it! ”
“The $16, 000 mistake: Robber shoots himself in foot HIS job was to guard the doors while his gang robbed a bank, but he instead gave the term 'shot himself in the foot' a whole new meaning.”
“The winner gets a title shot at Barack "Bam Bam" Obama in 2012.”
The Huffington Post: Robert Brenner: Three-Way Dance: Romney, Perry, Bachmann
“When he got his title shot against Ali, at Highbury in 1966, the result was the same, only without the frisson of excitement, and Cooper was the first to admit his moment had already come and gone in a crimson blur.”
The Guardian: No bad words, just praise, for Henry Cooper as he loses his last fight
“The title shot up Amazon's best-seller list to No. 4 last week.”
“But then he gets another chance ….. with a condition attached: his family has to stay out of his career: Micky gets his title shot, but not until he reconciles with his family and gets Dickie back in his corner.”
Voice of America: Family Struggles Could Dash Man's Dream in 'The Fighter'
“He wanted to hold you out, maybe get a title shot before you screw up and lose.”
“I remember walking out to face Flair for my title shot and thinking to myself, ‘This is where it all started.’”
“Without saying he was a liberal, or announcing any particular political predisposition, KO wanted his title shot as the anti-BO.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘shot’.
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Film
jidaigeki, samurai, Kurosawa, action, comedy, drama, Bergman, Buñuel, surreal, rotoscope, melodrama, Cinerama and 333 more...
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Sweet tooth fairy dominoes
As originally suggested on sweet tooth fairy domino:
Each person adds one word trying to create a single, potentially infinite sweet tooth fairy (please look it up if you are not familiar wit...banana, boat, house, arrest, warrant, peace, sign, post, box, clever, Hans, device and 115 more...
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Murdered, you say?
Terms of homicide; weapons, poisons, synonyms &c.
slaughtered, goes and gets her..., done in, rubbed out, bumped off, malice aforethought, marble baluster, lead spoon, stone idol, atropine, burned, clipped and 90 more...
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movement (fast)
words describing fast action or movement
( randomness, descriptive )hurry, run, scamper, skip, stride, stampede, trample, scramble, dart, spring, spin, sprint and 140 more...
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Public List: Two by Fives
This is an experiment in public lists--something I've been thinking about for some time. The goal is to create a collection of short, powerful, evocative words.
This is an open list. A...icy, howl, hymn, thorn, fire, vile, mist, blunt, scum, dark, shot, gleam and 137 more...
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Food and such

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