Green’s Dictionary of Slang

see needle beer under needle v.

a fool who is tolerated only because of their willingness to pay their share for drinks.

1599		Jonson Every Man out of His Humour V vi: If you be out [of humour] keepe your distance, and bee not made a Shot-clog no more.
1605		Chapman & Jonson Eastward Ho! I i: Thou common shot-clog, gull of all companies!
1626		Jonson Staple of News IV i: He is some primate metropolitan rascal, Our shot-clog makes so much of him.

(US) an illegal drinking establishment where drink is sold in nips or small (orig. half-pint) measures.

1931		(con. 1890s) C.W. Willemse Behind The Green Lights 21: A few doors away on the Bowery was the ‘Monkey House,’ a ‘five-cent shot house,’ – a resort where whisky cost only five cents a glass.
1976		Dly Press (Newport News, VA) 19 Mar. 10/4: He said police will raid a minimum of two ‘shot houses’ per week.
1982		Dly Press (Newport News, VA) 21 Nov. B4/1: Despite the risk of police raids, people go to shot houses for cheap drinks.
1993		Montgomery Advertiser 9AL) 24 Dec. 11/2: Shot houses, where single shots of alcohol are sold illegally for between $1 and $2.
2000		B. Bilger Noodling for Flatheads (2001) 100: There have always been two sorts of moonshine: the decent stuff, which is kept at home and sold to neighbors, and ‘nigger likker,’ [...] shipped to anonymous shot houses [...] in the big city.
2007		N. McCall Them (2008) 36: For years, the Purple Palace had been a half-respectable shot house.
2020		S.A. Crosby Blacktop Wasteland 252: Back in the day, a place like this might be called a shot house. Nowadays, shoot-up house was a more apt description.

1. to pay one’s share.

1592		H. Chettle Kind-Harts Dreame F3: Now a Jugling tricke to pay the shot.
1608		R. Middleton Epigrams 15: Tunacus bad a feast, but stole away, / And left his bidden guests the shot to pay.
1613		Rowlands ‘Two Cony-Catchers Gull the Third’ Knave of Hearts 72: These two shifters thus devise a plot, To make their fellow drunkard pay the shot.
1635		Long Meg of Westminster 6: If any stale Cutter comes in and thinks to pay the shot with swearing, hey! gogs! wounds!
1637–9		‘The Jovial Pedlar’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) I 97: When he came to pay the shot his heart grew very cold.
1648		R. Herrick ‘Upon Huncks’ Hesperides I 241: Huncks ha’s no money [...] About him, when the Taverns shot’s to pay.
1678		J. Ray Proverbs (2nd edn) 90: Coblers law, he that takes money must pay the shot.
1684		‘Poor Tom the Taylor’ in Ebsworth Roxburghe Ballads (1891) VII:2 473: She left him all the shot to pay, like a cunning sharper.
1690		D’Urfey Collin’s Walk canto 3 90: Major nobly paid the Shot, And return’d thanks with parting Pot.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: To Pay one’s Shot, to pay one’s Club or Proportion.
1714		T. Lucas Lives of the Gamesters (1930) 192: He would make shift to screw a ring or two off her finger, with which he would pay both the shot and his common-she.
1719		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy V 24: Time after Time to pay their Shot, / My Guineas I would lug out.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: To pay one’s shot; to pay one’s share of a reckoning.
1790		John Freeth ‘A Strolling Ballad Singer’s Ramble to London’ Political Songster 6: We left the Tar to pay the shot, / Then budg’d away to Fenny.
1793		Sporting Mag. Nov. III 107/2: Let him stay / He’ll not refuse his shot to pay.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1833		M. Scott Tom Cringle’s Log (1862) 37: I have wherewithal in my locker to pay my shot.
1838		T. Haliburton Clockmaker II 9: I [...] paid my shot into the plate, whenever if was handed round.
1846		Exeter Flying Post 8 Jan. 4/1: Ben paid his shot.
1850		W.K. Northall Life and Recollections of Yankee Hill 26: Captain Gay was tried, found guilty, and condemned to be shot, or, rather, to pay the shot for the amount of oysters, champagne, and other fixings.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 213: shot from the once English, but now provincial word, to shoot, to subscribe, contribute in fair proportion; [...] ‘to pay one’s shot,’ i.e., share of the reckoning, &c.
1877		J. Greenwood Dick Temple I 67: Give it a name, my Britons, and I’ll pay the shot.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Mar. 22/2: In the past, if at stray times we’ve licked ’em, / The beak made the fine pretty hot, / And we felt less like victor than victim / When the time came for paying the ‘shot.’.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 18 Apr. 14/3: Mitchell put in more good work, and it looked as if all was up, but Scholes managed to keep agoing, commencing to pay back some of the hot shot.
1901		E.W. Hornung Black Mask (1992) 155: Only remember, Bunny, it’s my turn next to pay the shot.
1910		Sun. Times (Perth) 15 May 2nd sect. 12/8: For when this fighting world has got / Me fairly on the hip, / I order in a pipe and pot, / All piping hot, and pay the shot.
1915		S. Ford Shorty McCabe on the Job 253: Who asks for cheap fun? [...] I paid the shot, didn’t I?

2. see also sl. phrs. above.

(UK black/drugs) a £10 bag of marijuana.

2015

Section Boyz ‘Trapping Ain’t Dead’ 🎵 I don’t ever leave out for a 10 shot.

an injection of a narcotic using a rudimentary ‘syringe’ made of a pin or needle and an eye-dropper.

1922		E. Murphy Black Candle 241: Instead of a syringe, the ‘prodder or ‘rat’ sometimes uses a safety-pin [...] and an eye-dropper to insert the solution. These ‘pin shots’ are frequently resorted to by the drug slaves of the poorer classes.
1934		F. Tuohy Inside Dope 84: Many of the poorer cases will just slit the vein open with a safety pin and absorb the drug from an eye-dropper (the ‘pin-shot’).
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1952		Lannoy & Masterson ‘Teen-age Hophead Jargon’ AS XXVII:1 28: PIN-SHOT, n. Injection through skin by using safety pin for perforation then placing the drug with an eye dropper.
1959		J.E. Schmidt Narcotics Lingo and Lore.

(US drugs) an injection using a makeshift ‘needle’ made of a pin and a medicine dropper.

1938		D. Maurer ‘Lang. of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 2 in Lang. Und. (1981) 107/2: POINT-SHOT. 1. A type of injection taken when a hypodermic needle has been broken and cannot be replaced. The point of the needle is inserted into the vein or under the skin and the glass shank of a medicine-dropper slipped down over it so that the solution can pass into the blood when the bulb is pressed. 2. An injection taken with a substitute for the hollow needle.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1959		J.E. Schmidt Narcotics Lingo and Lore.

1. a narcotics injection.

1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 417: Shot in the arm. A hyperdermic injection of dope.
1933		D. Maurer ‘Junker Lingo’ in AS VIII:2 27: The injection of dope is referred to as a bang in the arm or a shot in the arm.
1936		(con. 1920s) Dos Passos Big Money in USA (1966) 166: Shot in the arm – The injection of a narcotic.
1939		W. Winchell On Broadway 27 Apr. [synd. col.] He never knows when the yen for a ‘pill’ will grip him – and when it does – he merely puts the narcotic into the spoon – lights a match under it until it melts – sticks a needle into it for filling and then gives himself a shot in the arm.
1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
1952		(con. 1920s) ‘Harry Grey’ Hoods (1953) 289: He’s hitting the needle agin [...] he takes a shot in the arm.
1953		Anslinger & Tompkins Traffic In Narcotics 314: shot in the arm. An injection of a drug into the bloodstream.
1961		‘Lou Rand’ Gay Detective (2003) 77: He wants to try everything from sarsaparilla to a shot in the arm.
1967		Altman & Ziporyn Born to Raise Hell in Lingeman (1969) n.p.: We had some drinks, then we went off some place and had a fix – a shot in the arm. I don’t know what it was exactly, but it wasn’t heroin.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 72: Shoot To inject drugs intravenously. (Archaic: shot in the arm).

2. see also SE phrs. below.

(drugs) an injection of a narcotic that is made into the skin, rather than a specific vein; thus skin-shooter n., one who injects.

1936		D. Maurer ‘Argot of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 1 in AS XI:2 126/1: skin shot. An injection of narcotics beneath the skin.[...] Addicts agree that this type of shot produces a milder but more lasting effect than the vein shot, q.v. Skin shots are as a rule preferred by beginners.
1937		B. Dai Opium Addiction in Chicago 172: The ‘pipe fiend’ or the opium smoker generally looks down upon the ‘skin shooter’.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1959		W. Burroughs Naked Lunch (1968) 87: An Osmosis Recharge, which corresponds to a skin shot, but that is admitting defeat.
1968		‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2.
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972) 170: skin [...] Intramuscular injection.
1973		Maurer & Vogel Narcotics and Narcotic Addiction in Maurer Lang. Und. (1981) 425/1: I don’t think a main liner has the aches and pains kicking a habit that a skin shooter does.

the penis.

1900

in E. Cray Erotic Muse (1992) 70: Beware of lofty fire ships, they’ll be the ruin of you. / They’ll empty out your shot locker and pick your pocket too.

usu. of a man, to reach orgasm.

2000

in W. Shaw Westsiders 97: Jump on top of my dick and work them hips until I bust a shot.

see under dead adj.

two ejaculations of semen during a single bout of intercourse.

1983		R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].
1998		unicorn ‘The Farm Hand 2’ on Nifty Erotic Stories Archive 🌐 A flood of hot, white, boyjuice shot out of the end of his cock for the first and definitely most unforgettable time. He pumped and pumped and all three of his cumglands gave a double shot to his perpetually remembered delight.

(N.Z.) to ejaculate.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

of a man, to have sexual intercourse.

c.1630		‘The Jovial Companions’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) I 87: He laid her on her Back, and paid her the shot, / Without ever a stiver of Mony.
c.1685		‘The Jovial Companions’ in Ebsworth Bagford Ballads (1878) I 52: He laid her on her Back, and paid her the shot.
a.1700		‘Jenny Crack’ Pepys Ballads (1987) III 177: No sooner within the gates had I got, But I thought it convenient to give her a shot, And she from a morter-piece that she had, Let fly a Granado.
1966		Trimble 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases.

1. to have sexual intercourse.

1635

Industrious Smith broadside ballad in C. Hindley Roxburghe Ballads (1874) 99: Old debts must be paid, O why should they not, the fellow went home to pay the old shot.

2. see also SE phrs. below.

an act of sexual intercourse, from the perspective of the man.

1665		Head Eng. Rogue I 363: Her frequent trading, and those many shots she had received between wind and water in the service, had so altered her countenance, and disproportioned her body, that I knew not whether this Frigat was English or Flemish built.
1695		Congreve Love for Love III i: And then he let fly at her, / A shot ’twixt wind and water, That won this fair maid’s heart.
1707		N. Ward ‘The Surgeon’ Wooden World 45: His Captain, being disabled by some unlucky shot ’twixt wind and water, repairs to him for a Refitment.
1719		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy III 221: And then he let fly at her, / A Shot ’twixt Wind and Water, / Which won this fair Maids Heart.
1741		‘Capt. Samuel Cock’ Voyage to Lethe 29: We let fly, and luckily happened to give her a Shot between Wind and Water.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

(Scot.) sexual intercourse.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 1061/2: since late 1940s.

(US black) sexual intercourse without contraception.

1983

R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].

see separate entries.

see under crack n.³

(US black) to have sexual intercourse.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 151: Expressions for intercourse – [...] to get a shot of leg, to cut a side (of beef).

1. (Aus.) to make a sneering remark in someone’s direction, to try to provoke.

1821		‘A Real Paddy’ Real Life in Ireland 232: Lady Demiquaver, though on the best possible terms with Lady Howe, could not refrain from having a shot at her on this occasion.
1900		Punch 17 Jan. 45/2: If it’s in the dead season – or there’s nothing particular going on – have a shot at the Press.
1960		‘Nino Culotta’ Cop This Lot 23: Reckon ’e was ’avin’ a shot at us, Nino?
1986		R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 29: Have a shot at: To attempt to take the piss out of someone else verbally as in, ‘The bastard had a shot at me but I told him where he could get off.’.

2. (also have a shot) to make an attempt, to have a try.

1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 18 Apr. 22/4: This case shows how necessary it is for a man in dealing with a widow to put down his foot firmly somewhere. As we premised, he need not try it on the question of marrying her. His determination goes for nothing there. But we think he ought to have a shot at her arithmetical side.
1890		Sporting Times 22 Mar. 1/2: I’ll just have one more shot.
1901		Boy’s Own Paper 24 Aug. 750: They might let the chaps have a shot at cooking it themselves.
1910		Wodehouse Psmith in the City (1993) 16: He seemed awfully keen on my finding something to do [...] I said I’d have a shot.
1914		H. Lawson ‘I’ll Bide’ in Roderick (1972) 823: I made up my mind to have a shot at that gate [...] ’n’ see if there was anything cronk about the place.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 590: Have a shot at it now, he ventured to say of the coffee after being stirred.
1922		H. Lawson ‘Bob the Baker and British Breeding’ in Roderick (1972) 922: I fancied the skipper [...] looked as if he’d like to have a shot at it too.
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 174: He had been trying to cross one leg over the other and failing and having another shot and failing again.
1939		K. Tennant Foveaux 32: There was nothing Fred Doust would not ‘have a shot at’.
1939		Rover 18 Feb. 6: I’ll have a shot at rescuing Hopalong.
1947		N. Marsh Final Curtain (1958) 234: There, you’ll notice, are the marks round the lid where he had a shot at opening it.
1952		K. Amis letter 8 Sept. in Leader (2000) 291: I see what you mean about this, though it would be awfully difficult to do. I could have a shot at it, anyway.
1956		J. Curtis Look Long Upon a Monkey 197: Only thing worrying him is being such a chump as to’ve had a shot at something with people who’re not top-notch crooks.
1960		Wodehouse Jeeves in the Offing 19: I have occasionally borrowed his copy with a view to having a shot at the crossword puzzle.
1972		(con. 1950s) D. Goines Whoreson 29: I just about had a shot at it.
1992		G. Disher Paydirt [ebook] Having a shot at the Belcowie payroll now would be risky but he thought he could make it a calculated risk.

(Aus./N.Z.) exactly what one requires.

2003

McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

(Aus.) a general excl. of agreement or approval.

1951		(con. 1941) E. Lambert Twenty Thousand Thieves 183: Pigs to that! [...] A jack-up, that’s the shot.
1953		T.A.G. Hungerford Riverslake 30: Ready to go, eh? That’s the shot.
1968		S. Gore Holy Smoke 14: Faith, mate. That’s the shot. I’m drumming yer!
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 231: That’s the shot [...] Stick around and guard the place. If that’s all right.
1986		C. Bowles G’DAY 89: SHANE. On the othe~ and, e is a mate a yaws. AARON. That’s the shot.

a person who has authority or takes the lead in saying what should happen.

1950		Portsmouth Herald () 13 Sept. 4/4: My female counsel is a pretty good shot-caller on these things [i.e. opposing claims in court].
1960		letter in Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS) 8 Aug. 4/7: Adlai [Stevenson] is known for not being much of a shot-caller.
1968		‘Hy Lit’ Hy Lit’s Unbelievable Dict. of Hip Words 35: shot caller – To make a prediction which later becomes a reality.
1991		L. Bing Do or Die (1992) 222: It’s the shotcallers who gettin’ rich. The politicians.
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 45: Sydney loves being the shot caller, so I go along.
1997		G. Sikes 8 Ball Chicks (1998) 22: Shogun, cursed with an unpredictable temper that ignited at unsettling speed, soon rose to the rank of shot caller.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 385: [He] wanted to be a ‘shot caller’ in the prison firmament and had gathered a clique of about a dozen.
2001		Source Aug. 147: Snoop may call the shots in the studio. But Tray Deee is the shot caller on the street.
2009		J. Stahl Pain Killers 25: He got stuck in a cell with a shot-caller for the ALS.
2019		D. Winslow Border [ebook] [O]one of the AB shot callers gave him a respectful nod.
2020		D. Winslow ‘Sunset’ in Broken 194: ‘He knocked up a shot-caller’s niece, and they’re looking to punish him’.

(Aus.) a catapult.

1943

Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. (2nd edn).

see separate entries.

(US Und.) a special pocket adapted for secreting items that have been shoplifted.

1972

(con. 1950s) D. Goines Whoreson 122: [I]t was a coat with shot pockets sewed onto the inside lining.

(US black) one who is emotionally unstable [play on hot-rodder n.].

1959

E. De Roo Go, Man, Go! 49: He kept thinking of the wild ride and called himself a god-damned yo-yo, a squirrel, a nut, a shot-rodder.

(orig. US) by a good distance, by a considerable amount; usu. as a negative, e.g. too fast by a long shot or not by a long shot, in no way at all, by an extremely unlikely chance.

1835		Huron Reflector (Norwalk, OH) 14 Apr. 1/2: Patty Bean was not the first that I run against by a long shot.
1843		W. Oliver Eight Months in Illinois 66: I know the way how to kill ague better than many a doctor by a long shot.
1852		H.B. Stowe Uncle Tom’s Cabin 58: But it an’t all I want, by a long jump.
1856		Bell’s Life in Sydney 18 Oct. 1/5: [G]oing up close to the grenadier, he asked if he would sell him a potato. ‘Not by a long shot,’ answered the grenadier; ‘I haven’t enough for myself.’.
1871		E. Eggleston Hoosier School-Master (1892) 157: You gin up Hanner kase you thought she belonged to me. That’s more’n I’d a done by a long shot.
1895		W. Pett Ridge Minor Dialogues 63: I’m too fly for that by a long, long shot.
1908		D.G. Phillips Susan Lenox II 166: It ain’t the best butter—not by a long shot.
1912		A. Berkman Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist (1926) 198: ‘But you spent most of your life in prison.’ ‘Not by a long shot.’.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 435: No, you aren’t, not by a long shot if I know it.
1929		E. Dahlberg Bottom Dogs 197: It wouldn’t have broke him by a long shot.
1931		(con. 1900s) C.W. Willemse Behind The Green Lights 80: They weren’t all bums and down-and-outers by a long shot.
1936		(con. 1920s) Dos Passos Big Money in USA (1966) 791: You wouldn’t want to marry me the way I am now anyway . . . not by a long shot.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 157: Guys with lots of talent, maybe, but not by a long shot a well-established [...] group.
1951		Cusack & James Come in Spinner (1960) 45: I’d ’ave you know my time ain’t over neither, not by a long shot.
1968		N. Heard Howard Street 53: He wasn’t an alcoholic then – not by a long shot.
1982		P. Bailey An Eng. Madam 56: Ours wasn’t a flaming bloody passion by a long shot.
1998		P. McCabe Breakfast on Pluto 50: Not to me, by a long shot — no! Old Puss a favour just does not forget.
2024		C. Stella Joey Piss Pot 25: The mob wasn’t what it used to be. Not by a long shot.

see under call v.

see under dead adj.

(S.Afr.) to cheat, to swindle.

1890

A. Martin Home Life on an Ostrich Farm 268: It is considered rather clever and smart to do a shot on the guileless and unsuspecting new chum.

(Aus.) to urinate.

2016

N. Cummins Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] VITAL AUSSIE VERNACULAR Urinating: 1. To syphon the python 2. Having a snake’s hiss 3. A shot at the porcelain 4. Talking to a man about a horse.

(Irish) promptly, immediately, fast.

1820		Wyoming Herald (Wilkes-Barre, PA) 17 Nov. 4/3: Should she ever speak of me in terms of disrespect [...] would be off like a shot off a shovel.
1834		Cardiff & Merthyr Guardian 23 Aug. 4/1: She cut her country like a hailstone [...] Reformers would say ‘like a shot off a shovel’.
1871		Indiana Progress (PA) 19 Oct. 3/6: ‘I shall tumble you out into that snow-drift’ [...] And out I went, like a shot off a shovel.
1889		Hants. Teleg. 16 Feb. 6/6: He would go out like a shot off a shovel.
1899		Baltimore Sun (MD) 6 Oct. 1/3: ‘See her go past her like a shot off a shovel. Wow!’.
1914		Brooklyn Dly Eagle 25 Jan. 56/1: It was also liable [...] to dive like ‘a shot off a shovel’ to the bottom of a deep well.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 330: And they beheld Him even Him, ben Bloom Elijah, amid clouds of angels ascend to the glory of the brightness at an angle of fortyfive degrees over Donohoe’s in Little Green Street like a shot off a shovel.
1939		Sheffield Dly Teleg. 12 May 12/4: A machine which leapt from the starting gate like a shot off a shovel.
1952		Mercury (Pottstown, PA) 11 Mar. 10/3: [cartoon caption] ‘I’m off like a shot on a shovel’.
1960		G.W. Target Teachers (1962) 281: ‘Wonder where Mr Miller got to?’ ‘Down the side stairs like a shot off a shovel,’ said Steve.
1971		Sun. News & Trib. (Jefferson City, MO) 10 Nov. 58/1: [cartoon caption] ’An’ when th’ roof caved in, our ol’ mule took off like a shot on a shovel’.
1982		L.A. Times 29 Sept. 85/1: I bolted from the chair and left the room like a shot off a shovel.
1992		B. Leyden Departures 10: And the race is on. The shopkeeper’s assistant is out the door like a shot off a shovel .
1995		Nanaimo Dly News (British Columbia) 21 Aug. 4/5: A full three weeks before the vote [...] the Tories took off like a shot off a shovel.

one’s best effort or attempt.

1928		Philadelphia Inquirer (PA) 1 July 46/1: Connie Mack [...] knows he will have to give Boston his best shots to win the series.
1931		S.F. News 29 Aug. in Safire What’s the Good Word? (1982) 24: Smith’s blows, though they were his very best shots, didn’t feaze Hanna.
1970		Tampa Bay Times (St Petersburg, FL) 24 May 4C/8: I [...] broke my hand [...] I didn’t give it my best shot.
1986		M. Petit Peacekeepers 62: I’ll give it my best shot.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 263: Even getting back into London took my very best shot.
1995		C. Hiaasen Stormy Weather 83: Edie Marsh gave it her best shot.
1999		Indep. on Sun. Travel 27 June 4: I gave not-drowning my best shot.
2000		Indep. Rev. 23 Feb. 11: I know it’s going to get it’s best shot with that cast.
2007		Stage (London) 9 Aug. 51/3: My approacxh was just to take deep breaths and give it my best shot.
2012		Arizona Dly Star (Tucson, AZ) 22 June B008/4: ‘I’ve really struggled [...] But I’ll give it my best shot’.

1. (orig. US) anything (verbal, physical, stimulant) that cheers one up, energizes one etc.

1915		R. Bolwell ‘College Sl. Words And Phrases’ in DN IV:iii 235: shot-in-the-arm, n. A drink of spirits: probably from use of injected stimulants.
1922		S. Lewis Babbitt (1974) 90: All afternoon he snorted and chuckled and gurgled over his ability to ‘give the Boys a real shot in the arm to-night’.
1929		L. Axley ‘“Drunk” Again’ in AS IV:6 441: Some methods of drinking, expressed in slang, are: ‘take a shot,’ or ‘take a shot in the arm’.
1931		A. Hardin ‘Volstead English’ in AS VII:2 87: Terms used for intoxicating liquor: Shot in the arm.
1933		Post-Register (Idaho Falls, ID) 6 Jan. 4/1: A ‘shot in the arm’ is a temporary uplift.
1942		C.R. Bond 4 Mar. in A Flying Tiger’s Diary (1984) 123: I was handed a cablegram from Doris. What a shot in the arm. How wonderful!
1944		J. Cary Horse’s Mouth (1948) 319: Sara was a shot in the arm; she brought you alive one way or another.
1949		Wodehouse Mating Season 189: He had hoped that the pull-together spirit had given it a shot in the arm.
1950		J. Weidman Price Is Right 139: It takes more than that dash of gumption [...] that shot in the arm you’ve been telling me about.
1971		Wodehouse Much Obliged, Jeeves 71: They were going, he said [...] to give the pound the shot in the arm.
1972		D. Pendleton Boston Blitz (1974) 81: He got his first big shot in the arm [...] when he negotiated a ‘disposal contract’ with the Mafia bosses.
1977		(con. 1960s) D. Goines Black Gangster (1991) 203: You being released will give some of the boys a shot in the arm.
1980		in S. Terkel Amer. Dreams (1982) 200: I was given a shot in the arm by Cesar Chavez.
1997		(con. 1960s) D. Farson Never a Normal Man 235: This is just the shot in the arm we’ve been needing.

2. see also sl. phrs. above.

a wild guess, a random try; thus shoot in the dark v. to make a wild guess or try.

1867		Essex Standard 8 Nov. 2/5: Our contemporary has ventured upon a shot in the dark.
1899		C. Chesnutt ‘Mars Jeems’s Nightmare’ in Conjure Woman 97: Mars Jeems ’lowed atterwa’ds dat he wuz des shootin’ in de da’k w’en he said dat ’bout de books.
1907		W.M. Raine Bucky O’Connor (1910) 20: This was a shot in the dark, and it did not quite hit the bull’s-eye.
1935		C. Isherwood Mr Norris Changes Trains 184: I could no longer resist trying a shot in the dark. ‘But you get paid from Paris?’ I had scored a bull.
1952		J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 815: He knew it was a wild last-gasp shot in the dark.
1957		H.S. Thompson letter 4 Nov. in Proud Highway (1997) 73: It took a few shots in the dark, a few master strokes, and no little luck.
1971		Aberdeen Eve. Exp. 28 Aug. 15/8: A ‘shot in the dark’ wins £250.
1979		P. Hamill Deadly Piece 66: It was a shot in the dark. I had no idea what he knew.
1984		C. White Life and Times of Little Richard 53: It was just one of many shots in the dark that landed on the front desk every week from young hopefuls.
1999		Indep. Rev. 11 Sept. 20: I don’t know if the photographs are saleable. This is a real shot in the dark.
2000		Observer Mag. 9 Apr. 14: This must have seemed like a last chance, a shot in the dark.
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 124: Is he taking a shot in the dark or does the bastard know something?

a bad turn.

1897		Pearson’s Mag. Sept. 254: He thought he saw the means of getting square with the millionaire who had done him such an unscrupulous shot in the eye [F&H].
1899		Manchester Courier 18 Nov. 13/7: Lipinzki saw that he had ‘done him a shot in the eye,’ as the camp vernacular had it.
1975		News-Press (Fort Mysers, FL) 18 June 34/3: He also gave Motherhood a shot in the eye.

(US) a response to a verbal attack .

2009		Urban Dict. 7 Sept. 🌐 Shots Fired When you blatantly diss or call out somebody you have a disagreement or problem with. stems from the term ‘Warning Shots’ .
2014		Eble UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2014 13: SHOTS FIRED — acknowledgement of an insult: X: ‘Dude, you smell bad.’ Y: ‘Shots fired’.

1. (also take one’s shot) to attack, whether physically or verbally.

1896		Ade Artie (1963) 91: If I ever come up here with one o’ them funny suits on the old man might take a shot at me.
[1910		‘O. Henry’ ‘The Fifth Wheel’ in Strictly Business (1915) 62: I took a snap-shot at him with that little brass Flatiron Girl that stood on the sideboard].
1918		Star Trib. (Minneapolis, MN) 14 Feb. 6/4: Our old friend Frank Day has taken another shot at the publishers of this paper.
1928		W. Winchell Your Broadway & Mine 13 Nov. [synd. col.] ‘You took a shot at me, didn’t you [...] putting my picture in the paper with that Fanny Brice story’.
1939		Star (Sheffield, UK) 26 Oct. 1/5: [deadline] Take A Shot At Hitler! [...] £100 for Hits at Hitler!
1953		T.A.G. Hungerford Riverslake 113: Carmichael had a shot at a Balt.
1953		W. Brown Run, Chico, Run (1959) 20: That’s why Chico wasn’t much worried about Loco taking a shot at Buck Shadu. If it had happened anywhere outside the block it would have been bad.
1964		Birmingham Dly Post 9 Jan. 7/1: ‘If President Johnson feels about it like I think he does, he’ll probably take a shot at them’.
1974		D. Ireland Burn 115: Gunner says, ‘What about all the dough you said he sent you?’ But only to have a shot at her.
1992		Sthn Illinoisian (Carbondale, IL) 10 Aug. 4/5: You can understand the Washington Post wanting to take a shot at the ancient conservative.
1999		N. Stephenson Cryptonomicon 327: Most of the delegations have brought hired guns [...] One by one, these guys stand up to take their shots.
2000		Eminem ‘Marshall Mathers’ 🎵 Now everybody wanna run they mouth / and try to take shots at me.

2. to try, to make an attempt.

1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 30: That don’t mean I won’t take a shot if I get a chance.
1978		R. Caron Go-Boy! 197: I was taking a shot at Dallas for the middle-weight championship.
1987		T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 386: And I’m gonna take a shot at it myself.
1997		Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 405: Once, he’d even taken a shot at the inner Harbor.
2001		N. Green Shooting Dr. Jack (2002) 274: I wanted to show you that I wasn’t, like, a moron [...] so I took a shot.
2012		Arizona SDly Star (Tucson, AZ) 7 Mar. A017/1: Pima County should take a shot at making this tournament a Tucson fixture.

(orig. US) to do the best one can, to try one’s hardest; to take the path most likely to succeed (see cite 1977).

1935		L.A. Times 15 Oct. part 2 11/7: But — as remarked — everyone denies everything — so take your best shot.
1950		L.A. Times 5 May Part IV 4/4: The stable rider has been released [...] to take his best shots and grab the best mount.
1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 330: ‘Get me one of them Whale bars, or if they ain’t got that, get an ice cream sandwich.’ ‘And shoot your best shot,’ Chilly added.
1977		Ben-Veniste & Frampton Stonewall 259: Faced with a potential defendant who has engaged in a variety of criminal activities, the prosecutor usually ‘takes his best shot.’ The strongest evidence we had was evidence of the cover-up; that was our best shot.
1983		N. Heard House of Slammers 161: A man’s gotta take his best shot.
1997		Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 147: I’m saying take your best shot.
2000		Eminem ‘Marshall Mathers’ 🎵 And if you wanna run your mouth / then come take your best shot at me (your best shot at me).
2016		Chicago Trib. 22 Oct. 2/3: Kershaw will take his best shot. His competitive nature was on full display.

see whole bang shoot n.