shoot-up
noun
an act or instance of injecting an addictive drug intravenously.
shoot-up
American
[shoot-uhp]
/ ˈʃutˌʌp /
shoot up
British
verb
-
(intr) to grow or become taller very fast
-
(tr) to hit with a number of shots
-
(tr) to spread terror throughout (a place) by lawless and wanton shooting
-
slang (tr) to inject (someone, esp oneself) with (a drug, esp heroin)
shoot up
Idioms
-
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]
-
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]
-
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.
See Examples For:
Some data even suggest that for every hour the biological clock is offset from the social clock, the chances of being overweight shoot-up by a whopping 33 percent.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 11, 2014
How it is that in all the years this pattern has persisted no one thought to angle a few of these shoot-up shows toward women is one of TV's mysteries.
From Time Magazine Archive
Once again, the big shoot-up paired off two old adversaries, Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos.
From Time Magazine Archive
That’s because gas prices tend to shoot up like a rocket and float down like a feather, energy experts say.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026
If gas-turbine costs shoot up, that helps make the economic case on AI satellites.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
But she won't be able to justify it forever if the cost does shoot up further.
From BBC ● May 7, 2026
It says some of its members could even find themselves making a loss on diesel, which has seen its price shoot up particularly sharply.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
Jinny wondered if maybe, as she grew, Ess would shoot up tall and angular, like Joon.
From "Orphan Island" by Laurel Snyder
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
