▪ I. shooting, vbl. n.
(ˈʃuːtɪŋ)
Forms: see the vb.
[ME. scheotunge, later schoting, f. scheote, schote shoot v. + -ing1. OE. had scotung, f. scotian to shoot: see etymological note under shoot v.]
The action of shoot v.
1. a. The action or practice of discharging missiles from a bow or gun.
| [c 1000 ælfric Saint's Lives xxxii. 180 Þa wunda þe þa wælhreowan hæþenan mid ᵹelomum scotungum on his lice macodon.] a 1225 Ancr. R. 60 Also ase men weorreð mid þreo kunne wepnen, mid scheotunge, mid speres ord, & mid sweordes egge [etc.]. a 1352 Minot Poems (ed. Hall) v. 49 It semid with þaire schoting als it war snaw. c 1450 Lovelich Merlin 11564 These kynges hadden beholden ful wel the schetyng of this cherl Every del. 1549 Latimer 6th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 161 The arte of shutynge hath ben in tymes past much estemed in this realme. 1572 Nottingham Rec. IV. 141 Matches of showttyng. 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 89 Shoting in peeces, crosbowes, longbowes &c. 1692 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 526 Much shooting with cannon and musquet was heard. 1727 [E. Dorrington] Philip Quarll (1816) 57 He daily practised shooting at a mark. 1880 Maitland Gunmaking in Encycl. Brit. XI. 294/1 When this [windage] is considerable, it is a principal cause of error in shooting. |
† b. Discharge (of a bow), firing (of a gun).
| 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 12071 Yiff I koude wysly provyde..Fro shetyng off croos bowes. 1530 Lyndesay Test. Papyngo 439 Throuch reakles schuttyng of one gret cannoun. 1625 Peebles Charters, etc. (1872) 414 Gewine to John Frank for schiwting of the tua goineis in the steippell. 1637–50 Row Hist. Kirk (Wodrow Soc.) 363 Shooting of canons. |
c. The sport of killing game with the gun.
| 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. State iii. xiii. 185 Shooting..provides food when men are hungry. 1740 Gray Let. to Mother 2 Apr., The two boys..go a-shooting almost every day. 1823 Syd. Smith Game Laws Wks. 1859 II. 28/2 There are certainly many valuable men brought into the country by a love of shooting. 1823 Byron Juan xiii. xlviii, But there's no shooting (save grouse) till September. 1833 T. Hook Parson's Dau. ii. ii, The Squire was invited to a day's shooting at Colonel Bradfield's. 1903 McNeill Egregious English xix. 174 Grouse-shooting, pheasant-shooting, pigeon-shooting, and even rabbit-shooting. 1908 R. Bagot A. Cuthbert i. 3 Every November the coverts at Cuthbertsheugh afforded four days' shooting. |
¶ shooting flying: used as noun of action to the
vbl. phrase
to shoot flying (28 d). ?
Obs.| 1727 Markland (title) Pteryplegia: or, the Art of Shooting Flying. 1766 Page (title) The Art of Shooting Flying. 1814 Dobson Kunopædia title-p., With Instructions for attaining the Art of Shooting Flying. |
d. An exclusive right to shoot game on a particular estate or tract of country. Hence also, a tract of country on which a person has such an exclusive right. Often
collective plural.
| 1848 Clough Bothie i. 64 Hither from lodge and bothie in all the adjoining shootings. 1854 Act 17 & 18 Vict. c. 91 §42 The expression ‘lands and heritages’ shall..include..shootings, and deer forests, where such shootings or deer forests are actually let. 1879 Daily News 12 Aug. 5/1 The southern shootings are reported to be very poorly stocked with birds. 1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 12 Aug. 4/1 The man who takes a shooting with the intent of enjoying sport upon it until he is snowed off the premises. 1896 Earl Selborne Memor. I. xv. 236 He rented, for two or three years, the shooting of Mixbury. |
e. An incident in which a person is shot with a firearm.
| 1873 ‘Mark Twain’ Gilded Age xlvi. 425 What some of the journals lacked in suitable length..they made up in encyclopaedic information about other similar murders and shootings. 1977 Whitaker's Almanack 1978 590/2 During the election campaign 50 people were reported killed in shootings and bombings. |
f. Oil Industry. Detonation of an explosive charge in a well to increase the flow of oil or gas.
Cf. shoot v. 34.
| 1914 F. A. Talbot Oil Conquest of World v. 64 ‘Shooting’ is undertaken only when the limestone or sandstone is of such a nature that it restricts the flow of oil. 1937 Amer. Speech XII. 154/1 Shooting a well, using nitro⁓glycerine to make oil flow. 1946 [see oil well]. 1969 Times 2 May 25/1 The international oil companies are stepping up their interest in the Irish Sea in search for oil and gas... The area involved covers at least 15,000 miles and although the ‘shooting’ will be selective, the cost will..be..high. |
2. The feeling of a sudden pain; a thrill or dart of pain.
| 1528 Paynell Salerne's Reg. E j, Mylke..doth mitigate the shotynge or prickynge of the longes. 1640 Habington Castara (Arb.) 107 The shootings of a wounded conscience. c 1702 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. IX. 375 It seemed to her she felt..most violent shewtings in her back. 1710 True Acc. Tom Whigg i. (ed. 2) 12 The shooting of my Corn. 1758 J. S. Le Dran's Observ. Surg. (1771) 152 He felt frequent Throbbings or Shootings in the Tumour. 1818 Art Pres. Feet 27 Some, on the approach of rain, experience what is called a shooting of the corns. 1825 Scott Betrothed xxx, I was but grieved with the shooting of an old wound. |
3. a. Sprouting, beginning to grow (of plants, also of the teeth, etc.); sudden or rapid growth. Also
shooting up.
| 1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Fam. Love Ep. Ded. *ij b, To shew that shootyngs vp and encrease of God's Church beyng but from a feeble and weake begynnyng [etc.]. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 344 The shooting of Stagges hornes which euery yeare fall and grow againe. 1765 Museum Rust. IV. 227 Hot manures..will bring on a speedy shooting. 1799 Underwood Dis. Child. II. 121 The shooting up of a soft fungus. 1801 Med. Jrnl. V. 569 That is what they call the shooting of the teeth. 1901 ‘Zack’ Dunstable Weir 23 What wi' the shooting o' the crops, and birds calling one to t'other, there was a wonderful lot of nature about. |
b. concr. A shoot or collection of shoots.
| 1653 Bellingham Plat's Gard. Eden 66 [Carrots.] You must pare off the shooting at the upper end of the root and then lay them in sand. 1790 A. Wilson Poems & Lit. Prose (1876) II. 254 Beneath an old hedging for shelter he crawled And clung by a shooting of birch. 1886 W. J. Tucker E. Europe 100 A wild undergrowth of rank weeds and acacia-shootings. |
4. The sending out of shoots or spicules in crystallization.
| 1665 Hooke Microgr. 92 The shootings of Ice on the top of Water. a 1728 Woodward Nat. Hist. Fossils i. (1729) I. 114 Of the Stellar Shootings upon the Surface of the Regulus of Antimony. 1788 Blagden in Phil. Trans. LXXVIII. 134 The shooting of the ice. 1855 Kingsley Glaucus (1878) 35 The shooting of salts intermixed with mineral particles. |
5. Football. The kicking the ball at a goal. Also in extended use in other sports, as
Basketball,
Netball,
Hockey, etc.
| 1885 Field 31 Jan. 135/2 Any shooting that the centres attempted was very defective. 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 518/2 The goalkeeper should run forward..so as to attempt to tackle him [sc. the hockey player] before he can get within shooting range. 1901 Daily Express 18 Mar. 8/1 The football was..except for poor shooting most enjoyable. 1935 Encycl. Sports 436/1 It [sc. the game of netball] proceeds when..the ball..is received by one standing within the shooting circle. 1961 Netball (‘Know the Game’ Series) (ed. 5) 20 (heading) Footwork for throwing and shooting. 1974 Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) 26 Oct. 4-d/1 This system paid off in the team's shooting this week. |
6. a. In various senses of the verb.
| 1464 Nottingham Rec. II. 374 For shotyng of the same spyndelle. 1603 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 530/1 Cum..privilegio lie haling, schutting, landing, peilling, drawing of nettis, [etc.]. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. a 1 b, The shooting of London bridge at an ebbe or low water. Ibid. 166 The shooting of starres. 1694 Marten's Voy. Spitzbergen in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. ii. 120 Some are propagated by the shooting of their Row. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 7 ¶2, I have known the shooting of a Star spoil a Night's Rest. 1821 Acc. Peculations Coal Trade 17 Wall's-end coals, 47s{ddd}free of expence, except the trifling expence for metage and shooting. 1825 J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 586 The operation of making the edge of a board straight is called shooting. 1846 Dickens Pictures from Italy, Rome 173 Now and then, a swift shooting across some doorway or balcony, of a straggling stranger in a fancy dress. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 464/1 The ‘picking’ or shooting of the weft. 1892 Labour Commission Gloss., Shooting, the operation of emptying the sacks of coal into the consumer's cellars or stores. Ibid., Shooting, the process by which the iron which is to form the ‘bolster’ and ‘tang’ in a genuine hand-forged table blade is welded to the steel of the blade. |
b. The action or process of taking film with a cinematographic camera.
| 1920 I. P. Gore in Stage Year Book 56 Many companies are paying trips to the Continent for the ‘shooting’ of certain scenes in the actual ‘locations’. 1941 B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? xi. 284 A director exhausted from the day's shooting. 1955 Times 31 May 10/3 Mr. Orson Welles, for one, has shown..the methods of ‘shooting’ which lay emphasis on rehearsals. 1979 Beautiful Brit. Columbia Spring 4 Victoria was one of the shooting locations for Harry in Your Pocket. |
c. The action or process of injecting an (addictive) drug intravenously.
slang (
orig. U.S.).
| 1951 Evening Sun (Baltimore) 27 Mar. 4/1 A powerful combination of ‘bernice snorting’ and heroin ‘shooting’ was called ‘blowing speed balls’. 1953 W. Burroughs Junkie 8 You don't wake up one morning and decide to be a drug addict. It takes at least three months' shooting twice a day to get any habit at all. 1971 Black Scholar Apr.–May 46 Mugging, theft, pimping and shooting dope are not themselves political actions. |
7. shooting forth:
a. an outburst;
† b. concr. a projection, prominence.
| 1601 Holland Pliny i. xxii. I. 88 The shooting forth of the Promontorie aforesaid some have reported to be 60 miles, others 90. 1722 Quincy Lex. Phys.-Med. (ed. 2) 16 Ancon, is the top of the Elbow, or the backward and greater Shooting-forth of the Ulna. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vii. i, The first grand fit and shooting forth of sansculottism. |
8. attrib. and
Comb. a. Simple
attrib., as (sense 1 c)
shooting-party,
shooting-season; (sense 1 d)
shooting-place,
shooting-tenant; (sense 6 b)
shooting schedule,
shooting script. Also designating clothing worn or equipment used by a person engaged in shooting, as
shooting-boot (also (
fig.) in sense 5),
shooting-canoe,
shooting-coat,
shooting dress,
shooting-gear,
shooting-horse,
shooting-jacket,
shooting shoe,
shooting-stocking,
shooting-suit.
| 1855 ‘C. Idle’ Hints Shooting & Fishing 34 To return from this digression on *shooting boots. 1894 Country Gentleman's Catal. 154 Fagg Brothers,..makers of shooting boots to H. R. H. The Duke of Saxe-Coburg. 1947 Sporting Mirror 7 Nov. 11/3 Grimsby were having a sad and sorry season until the unexpected revival at Manchester United when Cairns found his shooting boots. 1948 C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident 26 Everyone knows he's a deadly shot when his shooting-boots are on. 1978 Cornish Guardian 27 Apr. 5/5 Tintagel found their shooting boots in the second half of their game. |
| 1842 Lacy Mod. Shooter 443 Going afloat in a *shooting-canoe for the first time. |
| 1840 John Bull 3 Oct. 469/2 Advt., A superb Collection of *Shooting Coats. 1884 J. Hatton in Harper's Mag. Feb. 337/1 An old velvet shooting coat. |
| 1794 J. Woodforde Diary 27 Oct. (1929) IV. 149, I met Mr. Stoughton..in a *Shooting Dress. 1852 J. R. Planché Day of Reckoning iii. i. 30 Claude..in a shooting dress, is seated on the steps of the terrace, examining the lock of his gun. |
| 1555 in Richmond Wills (Surtees) 106, I beqweth unto John Cawrew..all my husband's *shotyng gere. |
| 1850 R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (1902) 14 These drove their *shooting-horses loose behind the waggon. 1893 F. C. Selous Trav. S.E. Africa 16 A splendid shooting horse. |
| 1796 Jane Austen Let. 5 Sept. (1952) 11 Let me know..how many of the Gentlemen, Musicians & Waiters, he will have persuaded to come in their *Shooting Jackets. 1831 P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 28, I slipped on my shooting jacket. |
| 1776 Earl Carlisle in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1844) III. 154, I was only absent two days from home on a *shooting-party. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair lxii, There were shooting-parties and battues. |
| 1819 Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) IV. ix. 308 He really thought of getting some *shooting-place in Scotland. |
| 1950 ‘E. Crispin’ Frequent Hearses i. 36 ‘It would be possible for me to meet her?’.. ‘That depends on the *shooting schedules. The film's on the floor.’ 1976 M. Maguire Scratchproof i. 11 Shooting schedules were being delayed and people were beginning to say the film was jinxed. |
| 1929 I. Montagu tr. Pudovkin's On Film Technique vi. 176 The *Shooting-script is the scenario in its final cinematographic form. 1933 A. Brunel Filmcraft 141 Here follow two sequences of the actual shooting script of ‘A Light Woman’. 1976 H. Orel in M. Drabble Genius of T. Hardy 103 Perhaps John Wain exaggerates by describing the entire work [sc. The Dynasts] as a shooting script. |
| 1781 G. Selwyn Let. 19 May in 15th Rep. R. Comm. Hist. Manuscripts App. vi. 484 in Parl. Papers 1897 (c. 8551) LI. 1 Boothby proposes to go to you in the *shooting season, that is near Christmas. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xlviii, To spend the shooting-season in Scotland. 1981 C. Miller Childhood in Scotland 54 The opening of the shooting seasons varied with the type of game. |
| 1839 A. Mathews Mem. Charles Mathews III. vii. 162, I had them made after a plan of my own, for *shooting-shoes. 1976 Shooting Times & Country Mag. 18–24 Nov. (Advt.), The golden boot—our famous shooting shoe. |
| 1893 Kipling Day's Work (1898) 43 The Rao Sahib, in tweed *shooting-suit and a seven-hued turban. |
| 1891 Daily News 9 Apr. 2/2 That objectionable person, the *shooting tenant. |
b. Special comb.:
shooting-block,
-board, an appliance to facilitate the accurate planing of the edge of a board or stereotype plate, consisting of a board or block, upon which the material is laid, furnished with a rebate to guide the plane;
shooting booth, a booth at a fair in which shooting for prizes is carried out (
cf. shooting gallery (
a));
shooting box, a small country house in or adjacent to a shooting locality used as a residence while shooting;
shooting brake, an estate car, now
rare;
orig. a light, horse-drawn wagonette designed to accommodate passengers and goods (
cf. break n.2);
shooting-fish = archer 5;
shooting-gallery, (
a) a long room, or a booth at a fair, fitted with a target and other appliances for the practice of shooting; also
fig. in
colloq. phr. the whole shooting gallery = the whole shoot s.v. shoot n.1 8; (
b)
U.S. slang, a place where addictive drugs may be obtained and ‘shot’ or taken by injection;
shooting-glove Archery, a glove worn to protect the hand in drawing a bow;
shooting-ground, (
a)
= sense 1 d; (
b) that part of a gun-factory where rifles, etc. are tested; (
c) a place where rubbish is shot;
shooting-hole, a pit made by a sportsman for purposes of concealment;
shooting-iron, a fire-arm,
esp. a revolver;
shooting-lodge = shooting-box;
shooting match, a competition testing skill in shooting; also
fig. in
colloq. phr. the whole shooting match = the whole shoot s.v. shoot n.1 8;
shooting phaeton = shooting brake (
orig. sense) above;
shooting-plane, a plane used with a shooting-board for squaring or bevelling the edges of stuff (Knight
Mech. Dict. 1875);
shooting-range, a place used for the practice of shooting, having the various ranges or distances marked off between the respective firing points and the targets;
shooting seat = shooting stick (
c) below, now
rare;
shooting-stick, (
a)
Printing, a piece of hard wood or metal which is struck by a mallet to loosen or tighten the quoins in a chase; (
b)
slang = shooting iron (
obs.); (
c) a walking-stick with a handle that may be opened to form an impromptu seat, first used by shooters;
shooting-tool Mining, a tool or implement used in blasting;
shooting war, hostilities involving armed conflict, as opposed to
cold war s.v. cold a. 19; first used with reference to
U.S. involvement in the war of 1939–45.
| 1812 P. Nicholson Mech. Exerc., Joinery §63 The *Shooting Block is two boards fixed together, the sides of which are lapped upon each other, so as to form a rebate for the purpose of making a short joint. 1885 Lock Workshop Rec. Ser. iv. 217/1 [Electrotyping] A shooting-block must be made. |
| 1846 Holtzapffel Turning II. 502 In squaring or shooting the edges of boards, the *shooting board..is very much used. |
| 1900 Times 7 July 10/1 We may soon expect swings erected in the practice-ground, *shooting booths under..the big stand. 1970 R. Lowell Notebk. 202 The shags Flying in straight lines like duck in a shooting booth. |
| 1812 Sir R. T. Wilson Priv. Diary (1861) I. 42 Rode to La Favorita, the king's private *shooting-box, about three miles from Palermo. 1837 Lockhart Scott IV. xi. 350 John Ballantyne, who had at this time a shooting or hunting-box a few miles off in the vale of the Leader. |
| 1912 H. J. Butler Motor Bodies & Chassis iv. 48 Wagonettes, *Shooting Brakes, and Luggage Cars.—This type of body fulfils the requirements of the sporting dogcart, and generally has sufficient capacity to replace two of these horsed vehicles. 1934 A. G. Street Endless Furrow xvii. 301 After a few minutes occupied with introductions and drinking a glass of sherry James found himself in the shooting brake, and soon the four-in-hand swept through the gates into the town. 1948 H. McCausland Eng. Carriage iv. 77 A very neat, very sporting little brake..intended for private use in the country with a team or pair, was the Shooting Brake, which had, behind its high box, a strong suggestion of the dog-cart in its bodywork. 1958 Times 13 Aug. 4/5 One man was killed and 11 people were injured when a shooting brake and a motor coach were in collision at Holcombe Brook, Bury, to-night. |
| 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) III. 34 The Beaked Chætodon or *Shooting-fish. |
| 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz, Gt. Winglebury Duel, The Pall-mall *shooting-gallery. 1897 Crockett Sir Toady Lion xix. 151 The Aunt-Sallies, the shooting-galleries, and the miscellaneous side-shows [at the fair]. 1951 Life 11 June 120/1 Sometimes he runs a ‘shooting gallery’, an establishment which not only sells the addict dope but furnishes hypodermics. a 1966 ‘M. na Gopaleen’ Best of Myles (1968) 323 Put the whole shooting gallery into a saucepan of cold water. 1972 J. Wambaugh Blue Knight (1973) ii. 36 He knows this boss dyke, a real mean bull dagger. Her pad's a shooting gallery for some of us. 1973 R. Busby Pattern of Violence v. 79 ‘Did you call in?’.. ‘Yeah... The whole shooting gallery 'll be here in a few minutes.’ |
| 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. ii. (Arb.) 107 Bracer, *shotyng⁓gloue, stryng, bowe & shafte. 1801 T. Roberts Engl. Bowman 294 Shooting-glove, a glove used on the shaft-hand in drawing the String. |
| 1835 J. J. Audubon Ornith. Biogr. III. 37 There is no lack of *shooting grounds, for every creek of salt-water swarms with Marsh Hens. 1859–61 Ramsay Remin. vi. (1870) 187 A young Englishman had taken a Scottish shooting-ground. 1868 Rep. to Govt. U.S. Munitions War 37 The shooting-grounds of the Woolwich Arsenal. 1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 24 May 11/1 Australia has been for too many years already the shooting ground of Europe's rubbish. 1897 Outing Mar. 536/2 A shooting friend..and myself were staying at a farmhouse, near the shooting-grounds. |
| 1850 R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (1902) 21 At night I took up a position in an old *shooting-hole beside the vley. |
| 1775 S. Adams Let. 31 Jan. in Writings (1907) III. 172 It puts me in mind of what I remember to have heard you observe, that we may all be soon under the necessity of keeping *Shooting Irons. 1793–9 J. Gerrond Advertisement v. Wks. (1815) 109 Dear brother sportsmen, crack the springs Of these things I call shooting-irons. 1891 E. Peacock N. Brendon I. 149, I shall keep this shooting-iron tonight. |
| 1859 Queen Victoria Leaves Jrnl. Highl. (1868) 127 Inchrory (a *shooting-lodge of Lord H. Bentinck's). |
| 1750 Acts Assembly Pennsylv. (1762) II. 33 Horse races, *Shooting-matches, or other idle Sports. 1813 Niles' Weekly Register IV. 35/1, I..gained their applause for my activity at our shooting matches. 1896 [see con b]. 1922 D. H. Lawrence in N.Y. Times 24 Dec. 9/4 What a lively shooting match will go on between all the Jacks and the Juans! 1953 K. Reisz Technique Film Editing ii. 76 The final chase..was best presented as a ‘battle of wits’, instead of a wild action-packed shooting match. 1974 BP Shield Internat. Oct. 2/4 This had the effect of tilting up the whole shooting match. |
| 1890 Coach Builders' Jrnl. 15 Nov. 181/2 Another of this firm's exhibits was a *shooting phaeton... It was furnished with luncheon basket. 1898 Carriage Builders' Jrnl. Dec. p. ix/2 (Advt.), Four-wheel shooting phaeton; varnished walnut; pigskin cushions, brass mounts and lamps, mat, and gun-box complete. |
| 1908 J. Wells Stewart of Lovedale vi. 41 One of his amusements was to practise at the *shooting-range. |
| 1895 Army & Navy Co-op Soc. Price List 15 Sept. 954 Cane *shooting seat. Ibid., Wood, folding Shooting Seat, can be used as a Walking Stick. 1917 Harrods Gen. Catal. 1089/2 Mills' Patent Shooting Seats. Strongly recommended as being the lightest and best seat, it is also telescopic. |
| 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing ix. §2 The *Shooting-stick must be made of Box. 1845 E. J. Wakefield Adventure N.Z. I. xi. 319 Every article of trade with the natives has its slang term,—in order that they may converse with each other respecting a purchase without initiating the natives into their calculations, thus pigs and potatoes were respectively represented by ‘grunters’ and ‘spuds’, guns..by ‘shooting-sticks’. 1866 ‘F. Kirkland’ Pictorial Bk. Anecdotes 237/2 Sambo..fell back in confusion when the ‘shooting stick’ was brandished toward his own breast. 1882 Southward Pract. Printing (1884) 68 The shooting-stick..transmits the pressure from the mallet to the quoin. 1926 E. P. Oppenheim Golden Beast i. xvii. 163 Judith had already disappeared, swinging her shooting stick in her hand. 1967 Guardian 23 May 2/6 The shooting sticks will prod the roots of every stately garden. |
| 1855 Leifchild Cornwall 112 The blasting or *shooting tools of the miner. |
| 1941 Time 4 Aug. 15/3, 55%..are ready to risk some kind of *shooting war at once. 1956 F. Castle Violent Hours vi. 51, I got into the real shooting war towards the close, at Okinawa. 1978 L. Heren Growing up on The Times iii. 86 Pat had joined me before the end of the shooting war, and was almost killed in Jerusalem. |
▪ II. shooting, ppl. a. (
ˈʃuːtɪŋ)
[f. shoot v. + -ing2.] That shoots.
1. Moving swiftly, darting.
| 1535 Coverdale Isa. xxx. 6 The waye that is ful of parell and trouble, because of the lyon and lyones, of the Cockatrice and shutynge dragon. c 1710 J. Hughes Ode to Creator iv, The shooting flame obeys th' eternal will, Launch'd from his hand. 1798 Wordsw. Poems Imag., ‘Five years have past’ 118, I..read..My former pleasures in the shooting lights Of thy wild eyes. 1887 Meredith Ballads & P. 151 A pool of scum for shooting flies. |
2. Sprouting, growing.
| 1702 Pope Dryope 47 The shooting leaves are seen to rise And shade her. 1798 W. Leslie Surv. Moray iii. 278 A luxuriantly shooting grove of different species of trees. |
3. Of pain: Sharp and sudden, darting, lancinating. Also of a diseased part, a corn, etc. (see
shoot v. 5).
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 324 Wiþ sceotendum wenne. 1710 Swift Tatler No. 238 ¶3 A coming Show'r your shooting Corns presage. 1752 Berkeley Tar-water Wks. III. 497 The shooting pains that precede a cancer. 1898 P. Manson Trop. Dis. xxiii. 354 Among the sympathetic pains [in liver abscess] may be mentioned shooting pains radiating over the chest. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 618 Pain is usually present from the first, it is shooting in character. |
4. Cricket. (See
shoot v. 1 i.)
| 1833 J. Nyren Yng. Cricketer's Tutor 72 Bowling a wicket down with a shooting ball. |
5. Addicted to the sport of shooting.
| 1891 L. B. Walford Mischief of Monica xiv, She was expecting guests from the North, ‘shooting men’. |