shooting gallery
Americannoun
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a place equipped with targets and used for practice in shooting.
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Slang. a place where drug addicts can buy and inject themselves with narcotic drugs.
noun
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an area, often enclosed, designed for target practice, shooting, etc
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slang a house where heroin addicts inject themselves
Etymology
Origin of shooting gallery
First recorded in 1830–40
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.
"The element of surprise is like those children's toys with a shooting gallery, a little hammer, and a bunny that pops up in different windows... you have to be quick enough to catch it."
From Barron's ● May 17, 2026
Rxd3, and White’s pawns will prove sitting ducks in a shooting gallery for Black’s rook.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 2, 2024
The design brings to life the musical’s instigating image of a fairground shooting gallery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2022
The set often has the feel of a shooting gallery with bells that ding or buzzers that blare.
From Salon ● Dec. 5, 2021
Next to the steakhouse is a shooting gallery, where the fake guns have such poor aim that no one can hit the little bull’s-eyes attached to plastic cactuses, wild-eyed cowboy cutouts, and stuffed, patchy-haired bobcats.
From "Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus" by Dusti Bowling
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
