shotten

[shot-n]

adjective

(of fish, especially herring) having recently ejected the spawn.

Obsolete. (of a bone) dislocated.

Origin of shotten

1175–1225; Middle English, past participle of shoot¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for shotten

Historical Examples of shotten

And tell me, ye sons of shotten herrings, wasn't it worth more to save him than the dirty silver?
Westward Ho!
Charles Kingsley
The horns of some of the Elk have not yet fallen off, and those of others have shotten out to the length of six inches.
The Journals of Lewis and Clark
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

British Dictionary definitions for shotten

shotten

adjective

(of fish, esp herring) having recently spawned

archaic worthless or undesirable

Word Origin for shotten

C15: from obsolete past participle of shoot

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for shotten

adj.

"having shot its spawn," and accordingly of inferior value, mid-15c., past participle adjective from shoot (v.). Originally of fish; applied to persons, with sense of "exhausted by sickness," from 1590s.