Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to take a narcotic or other drug by injection; thus shoot-upper n.; also attrib.

1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 135: They decided to ‘shoot up’ the small potion of white stuff they had left.
a.1940		in E. Cray Erotic Muse (1992) 139: She took out a bindle of horse / And shot it right up her arm.
1952		‘Hal Ellson’ Golden Spike 16: They shot up the rest of the stuff.
1958		J. Blake letter 11 Feb. in Joint (1972) 114: He was out fifty days and shot up the contents of five pharmacies.
1963		M. Braly Shake Him Till He Rattles (1964) 59: You shot it up already, I suppose?
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 70: So Georgette shot up and waited for the first wave to pass.
1966		J. Mills Panic in Needle Park (1971) 12: When he has finally injected the heroin (he calls it ‘shooting up,’ ‘taking off,’ ‘getting off’), he may or may not go on a ‘nod’—his eyelids heavy, his mind wandering pleasantly—depending on how much heroin his body has become accustomed to.
1973		D. Goines Street Players 49: I don’t have to worry about what I shoot up.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 70: He made a gesture with his hand, indicating shooting up.
1986		Totally True Diaries of an Eighties Roller Queen 🌐 29 Mar. Today Ron was visiting. Apparently, he shoots up now. How stupid.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 142: Natalie had only shot up a few times [...] it made her violently sick.
1997		L. Pettiway Workin’ It 101: My mum used to snort monster. She was never a shoot-upper.
1998		Source Oct. 154: I watched him shoot up.
1999		D. Looser ‘Boob Jargon’ in NZEJ 13 35: shoot up v. To administer a drug intravenously.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 366: Barney’s ma ain’ gonna shoot it up.
2000		Indep. Rev. 29 Apr. 1: Shooting up in Main Street.
2000		P. Temple Dead Point (2008) [ebook] So Robbie went into his garage, locked the door, got into his car, shot up.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 165/2: shoot up v. to inject a narcotic.
2005		Jade LB Keisha the Sket (2021) 59: ‘[She] shot up sum heroin’.
2009		J. Stahl Pain Killers 26: Know what I’m shootin’ up? I’m shootin’ up pork juice!
2010		K. Richards Life 388: So I went to the john, shot up, I mean.
2019		N. Walker Cherry 25: We didn’t shoot up till we were back in my apartment.
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.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 43: A butch junkie shooting up.

2. to inject someone with a narcotic or other drug.

1966		(con. 1958) R. Farina Been Down So Long (1972) 92: Eats horse for breakfast [...] can’t sniff it though, bad for the bronchial tubes. Next week we shoot him up.
1971		N. Smith Gumshoe (1998) 14: You want some stuff? [...] No bum gear. For real, Shoot you up pretty good.
1980		(con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘Florence’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 200: Going over and shooting her up, having her collapse, with no doubt in mind about whether she’d ODed or not.
1986		L. Heinemann Paco’s Story (1987) 21: I’d wrap the sons-a-bitches up and shoot them up.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 151: He hustled her to the ambulance, filched morphine and a hypo, shot her up while no one was looking.
1993		T. Jones Pugilist at Rest 136: I was afraid they might shoot him up with Thorazine.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 381: Wayne grabbed his Syrettes — pure morphine cc’s. He rolled to the jarhead. He shot up the jarhead.
2010		K. Richards Life 388: I shot him up. Just in the muscle.
2021		T. Swerdlow Straight Dope [ebook] [H]is father can’t find a vein, so he has the kid shoot him up.