shoot-up
Americanverb
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(intr) to grow or become taller very fast
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(tr) to hit with a number of shots
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(tr) to spread terror throughout (a place) by lawless and wanton shooting
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slang (tr) to inject (someone, esp oneself) with (a drug, esp heroin)
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Grow or get taller very rapidly, as in She's really shot up in the last year, and now she's taller than her mother . [First half of 1500s]
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Riddle with bullets; damage or terrorize with gunfire. For example, I liked the scene in which the cowboy stomps into the saloon, gets drunk, and shoots the place up . [Late 1800s]
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Inject a drug intravenously, especially an illegal drug. For example, The police caught him shooting up and arrested him . [ Slang ; first half of 1900s]
Etymology
Origin of shoot-up
First recorded in 1965–70; noun use of verb phrase shoot up
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He also is accused of making threats to shoot-up the school.
From Seattle Times
Police say the boy made a post on Snapchat that included the phrase “before I shoot-up the school.”
From Washington Times
Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire, a high-profile shoot-up comedy starring Brie Larson and Armie Hammer, won the equivalent of the People’s Choice Award for the Midnight Madness sidebar - a lineup comprised of genre films.
From The Guardian
He was pronounced dead at 15:06 GMT on Thursday after officers had been called to Watling Gardens, in Shoot-Up Hill, Kilburn.
From BBC
Another student has learned a surprising lesson in ethics from Call of Duty, a violent shoot-up game that is definitely not aimed at 12-year-olds.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
