to position or direct (a firearm, ball, arrow, rocket, etc.) so that, on firing or release, the discharged projectile will hit a target or travel along a certain path.
to intend or direct for a particular effect or purpose: to aim a satire at snobbery.
verb (used without object)
to point or direct a gun, punch, etc., toward: He aimed at the target but missed it.
to strive; try (usually followed by to or at): We aim to please. They aim at saving something every month.
to intend: She aims to go tomorrow.
to direct efforts, as toward an object: The satire aimed at modern greed.
Obsolete. to estimate; guess.
noun
the act of aiming or directing anything at or toward a particular point or target.
the direction in which a weapon or missile is pointed; the line of sighting: within the cannon's aim.
the point intended to be hit; thing or person aimed at: to miss one's aim.
something intended or desired to be attained by one's efforts; purpose: whatever his aim in life may be.
Obsolete. conjecture; guess.
Idioms
take aim, to sight a target: to take aim and fire.
Origin of aim
1275–1325;late Middle Englishaimen < Anglo-Frencha(e)smer, eimer,Old Frenchaesmer < Vulgar Latin*adaestimāre, equivalent to Latinad-ad- + aestimāre (see estimate); replacing Middle Englishamen < Old French (dial.) amer < Latinaestimāre
11. Aim,end,object all imply something that is the goal of one's efforts. Aim implies that toward which one makes a direct line, refusing to be diverted from it: a nobleness of aim; one's aim in life.End emphasizes the goal as a cause of efforts: the end for which one strives.Object emphasizes the goal as that toward which all efforts are directed: the object of years of study.
early 14c., "to estimate, calculate," also "to intend," from Old French aesmer "value, rate; count, estimate," from Latin aestimare "appraise" (see estimation); current meaning apparently developed from "esteem," to "calculate," to "calculate with a view to action" (c.1400), then to "direct a missile, a blow, etc." (1570s). Related: Aimed; aiming.
n.
early 14c., "target;" late 14c., "guess;" from aim (v.). Meaning "action of aiming" is from early 15c. (to take aim, originally make aim); that of "thing intended, purpose" is from 1620s.
