SHOOT

An inclined plane, either artificial or natural, down which timber, coal, etc., are caused to slide; also, a narrow passage, either natural or artificial, in a stream, where the water rushes rapidly; esp., a channel, having a swift current, connecting the ends of a bend in the stream, so as to shorten the course. [Written also chute, and shute.] [U. S.] To take a shoot, to pass through a shoot instead of the main channel; to take the most direct course. [U.S.]

To let fly, or cause to be driven, with force, as an arrow or a bullet; -- followed by a word denoting the missile, as an object. If you please To shoot an arrow that self way. Shak.

To discharge, causing a missile to be driven forth; -- followed by a word denoting the weapon or instrument, as an object; -- often with off; as, to shoot a gun. The two ends od a bow, shot off, fly from one another. Boyle.

To strike with anything shot; to hit with a missile; often, to kill or wound with a firearm; -- followed by a word denoting the person or thing hit, as an object. When Roger shot the hawk hovering over his master's dove house. A. Tucker.

To send out or forth, especially with a rapid or sudden motion; to cast with the hand; to hurl; to discharge; to emit. An honest weaver as ever shot shuttle. Beau & Fl. A pit into which the dead carts had nightly shot corpses by scores. Macaulay.

To push or thrust forward; to project; to protrude; -- often with out; as, a plant shoots out a bud. They shoot out the lip, they shake the head. Ps. xxii. 7. Beware the secret snake that shoots a sting. Dryden.

To plane straight; to fit by planing. Two pieces of wood that are shot, that is, planed or else pared with a paring chisel. Moxon.

To pass rapidly through, over, or under; as, to shoot a rapid or a bridge; to shoot a sand bar. She . . . shoots the Stygian sound. Dryden.

To variegate as if by sprinkling or intermingling; to color in spots or patches. The tangled water courses slept, Shot over with purple, and green, and yellow. Tennyson. To be shot of, to be discharged, cleared, or rid of. [Colloq.] "Are you not glad to be shot of him" Sir W. Scott.

To cause an engine or weapon to discharge a missile; -- said of a person or an agent; as, they shot at a target; he shoots better than he rides. The archers have . . . shot at him. Gen. xlix. 23.

To discharge a missile; -- said of an engine or instrument; as, the gun shoots well.

To be shot or propelled forcibly; -- said of a missile; to be emitted or driven; to move or extend swiftly, as if propelled; as, a shooting star. There shot a streaming lamp along the sky. Dryden.

To penetrate, as a missile; to dart with a piercing sensation; as, shooting pains. Thy words shoot through my heart. Addison.

To feel a quick, darting pain; to throb in pain. These preachers make His head to shoot and ache. Herbert.

To germinate; to bud; to sprout. Onions, as they hang, will shoot forth. Bacon. But the wild olive shoots, and shades the ungrateful plain. Dryden.

To grow; to advance; as, to shoot up rapidly. Well shot in years he seemed. Spenser. Delightful task! to rear the tender thought, To teach the young idea how to shoot. Thomson.

To change form suddenly; especially, to solidify. If the menstruum be overcharged, metals will shoot into crystals. Bacon.

To protrude; to jut; to project; to extend; as, the land shoots into a promontory. There shot up against the dark sky, tall, gaunt, straggling houses. Dickens.

To move ahead by force of momentum, as a sailing vessel when the helm is put hard alee. To shoot ahead, to pass or move quickly forward; to outstrip others.

The act of shooting; the discharge of a missile; a shot; as, the shoot of a shuttle. The Turkish bow giveth a very forcible shoot. Bacon. One underneath his horse to get a shoot doth stalk. Drayton.

A young branch or growth. Superfluous branches and shoots of this second spring. Evelyn.

A rush of water; a rapid.

A vein of ore running in the same general direction as the lode. Knight.

A weft thread shot through the shed by the shuttle; a pick.

A shoat; a young hog.