shot-window Now only Sc.
[Prob. f. shot n.1 The precise sense of the first element is difficult to determine. Some have thought that the word originally meant a window for shooting from; but there is no trace of this in the examples. Cf. MDu. schotdore sliding door, schotpoorte portcullis.]
A window that can be opened and shut by turning on its hinges, like a door or shutter, a casement; a shutter with a few panes of glass at the top. (Cf. quot. 1722 s.v. shot n.1 27.)
In quot. 1836 app. used for outshot window.
| c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 172 He..dressed hym vp by a shotwyndowe That was vp on the Carpenteris wal. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. Prol. 129 Ane schot wyndo vnschet a lytill on char. 15.. Adam Bel 85 in Hazl. E.E.P. II. 142 Alyce opened a shot wyndow, And loked all a bout. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xxiv, She hath jumped out of the shot-window of old Gaffer Thackham's grange. 1836 J. Struthers Dychmont Poet. Wks. (1850) II. 64 Its braw shot window, where to th' e'e Shines Snuff, Tobacco, and Bohea. |