Shoot, v. i.
1. To cause an engine or weapon to discharge a missile; -- said of a person or an agent; as, they shot at a target; he shoots better than he rides.
The archers have . . . shot at him. --Gen. xlix. 23.
2. To discharge a missile; -- said of an engine or instrument; as, the gun shoots well.
3. To be shot or propelled forcibly; -- said of a missile; to be emitted or driven; to move or extend swiftly, as if propelled; as, a shooting star.
There shot a streaming lamp along the sky. --Dryden.
4. To penetrate, as a missile; to dart with a piercing sensation; as, shooting pains.
Thy words shoot through my heart. --Addison.
5. To feel a quick, darting pain; to throb in pain.
These preachers make
His head to shoot and ache. --Herbert.
6. To germinate; to bud; to sprout.
Onions, as they hang, will shoot forth. --Bacon.
But the wild olive shoots, and shades the ungrateful plain. --Dryden.
7. To grow; to advance; as, to shoot up rapidly.
Well shot in years he seemed. --Spenser.
Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,
To teach the young idea how to shoot. --Thomson.
8. To change form suddenly; especially, to solidify.
If the menstruum be overcharged, metals will shoot into crystals. --Bacon.
9. To protrude; to jut; to project; to extend; as, the land shoots into a promontory.
There shot up against the dark sky, tall, gaunt, straggling houses. --Dickens.
10. Naut. To move ahead by force of momentum, as a sailing vessel when the helm is put hard alee.
To shoot ahead, to pass or move quickly forward; to outstrip others.