shot

pronunciation

How to pronounce shot in British English: UK [ʃɒt] word uk audio image

How to pronounce shot in American English: US [ ʃɑːt] word us audio image

Noun:

an attempt to score in a game
(sports) the act of swinging or striking at a ball with a club or racket or bat or cue or hand
the act of firing a projectile
a chance to do something
the act of putting a liquid into the body by means of a syringe
a solid missile discharged from a firearm
an informal photograph; usually made with a small hand-held camera
a consecutive series of pictures that constitutes a unit of action in a film
informal words for any attempt or effort
an aggressive remark directed at a person like a missile and intended to have a telling effect
a blow hard enough to cause injury
a small drink of liquor
sports equipment consisting of a heavy metal ball used in the shot put
a person who shoots (usually with respect to their ability to shoot)
the launching of a missile or spacecraft to a specified destination
an explosive charge used in blasting
an estimate based on little or no information
Adjective:

varying in color when seen in different lights or from different angles

Word Origin

shot: shot: [OE] Shot goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *skutaz, which was derived from the same base that produced English shoot. It used to mean ‘payment’ as well as ‘act of shooting’, a sense shared by its Old Norse relative skot, which provided English with the scot of scotfree [16] (etymologically ‘without having to pay’).=> scot-free, shoot

shot (n.): Old English scot, sceot "a shot, a shooting, an act of shooting; that which is discharged in shooting, what is shot forth; darting, rapid motion," from Proto-Germanic *skutan (cognates: Old Norse skutr, Old Frisian skete, Middle Dutch scote, German Schuß "a shot"), related to sceotan "to shoot" (see shoot (v.)). Meaning "discharge of a bow, missile," also is from related Old English gesceot. Extended to other projectiles in Middle English, and to sports (hockey, basketball, etc.) 1868. Another original meaning, "payment" (perhaps literally "money thrown down") is preserved in scot-free. "Throwing down" might also have led to the meaning "a drink," first attested 1670s, the more precise meaning "small drink of straight liquor" by 1928 (shot glass by 1955). Camera view sense is from 1958. Sense of "hypodermic injection" first attested 1904; figurative phrase shot in the arm "stimulant" first recorded 1922. Meaning "try, attempt" is from 1756; sense of "remark meant to wound" is recorded from 1841. Meaning "an expert in shooting" is from 1780. To call the shots "control events, make decisions" is American English, 1922, perhaps from sport shooting. Shot in the dark "uninformed guess" is from 1885. Big shot "important person" is from 1861.

shot (adj.): early 15c., past participle adjective from shoot (v.). Meaning "wounded or killed by a bullet or other projectile" is from 1837. Figurative sense "ruined, worn out" is from 1833.