Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) a wounding, sneering remark; thus cheap-shot artist, one who habitually makes such remarks.

1972		G.V. Higgins Friends of Eddie Coyle 42: That was a cheap shot. I apologize.
1978		A. Maupin Tales of the City (1984) 36: Sorry. Cheap shot.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 432: I guess it looks like a cheap shot, the revelation, at this stage, that Richard is Guy’s brother.
1995		I. Rankin Let It Bleed 207: You called me ‘Derry’ – that was a cheap shot.
1999		Indep. on Sun. Culture 11 July 9: A cheap shot, which I withdraw unreservedly.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1968		N.Y. Times 29 May 20: The movie opened yesterday at the Paris Theater and the Criterion, for the English antiwar cheap-shot satire brigade.
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 26: A cheap-shot homo joke.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 291: I always figured Vincennes was a cheap-shot cop on the take somehow.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 78: He ran a cheap-shot number upside my face.

3. a surprise punch, usu. when inflicted for no reason other than causing pain or injury, also as v. (see cite 1974).

1974		R. Blount Jr About Three Bricks Shy of a Load 107: In the last exhibition game [...] a guy complained, said I hit him a cheap shot. I said ‘You motherfucker, you’re not that good, that I have to cheap-shot you’.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 86: The guy hit me when I wasn’t looking. Took a cheap shot and then he took off.
2012		M. McBride Frank Sinatra in a Blender [ebook] No, this was a good lookin’ guy. Solid, with a whole lotta muscle. Bastard took a cheap shot.