'to make a man a close price in a stock without knowing if there would be a profit or loss on the bargain' (Atkin, House Scraps); shoot that [hat, man—anything]! = (1) a mild imprecation, 'Bother!'; Shoot that! = an injunction to silence: e.g., shoot the shop; to shoot in the eye = to do an ill turn; to be shot in the neck = to be drunk; to shoot in the tail = (1) to copulate, and (2) to sodomise; to shoot twixt wind and water = to pox or clap (B. E. and Grose); and (2) to do the act of kind: also as subs.; 'I'll (or may I) be shot if ' = a mild imprecation or strenuous denial. See also Shot.
1695. Congreve, Love for Love, iii. 15, 'A Soldier and a Sailor' [Durfey, Pills (1707), i. 227]. And then he let fly at her, A shot 'twixt wind and water, Which won this fair Maid's Heart.
1706. Ward, Wooden World, 45. 'The Surgeon.' His Captain, being disabled by some unlucky shot 'twixt wind and water, repairs to him for a Refitment.
1826. Buxton, Luke the Labourer, iii. 1. Bob. He, he, he! I'll be shot if Lunnun temptation be onything to this.
1837. Lytton, Ernest Maltravers, i., xv. 'Excuse—' again began Maltravers, half interested, half annoyed. 'I'll be shot if I do. Come.'
1853. Dickens, Bleak House, vii. I'll be shot if it ain't very curious.
1855. Brooklyn Journal, 18 Ap. The prisoners . . . had shot Under-Sheriff Hegeman in the head . . . Mr. Schumacher defended his client by observing that some of the attornies got as often shot in the neck as the Under-Sheriff did in the head.
1867. Bartlett, Americanisms, s.v. Shot. A slang term of recent origin. To say, 'Shoot that dress,' is meant to convey the idea that the dress is inferior; that it is not worth much; or, to use another slang expression, 'it is no great shakes' after all. Ibid. [Quotation from Danbury News.] Mother. Stand still, Tommy, or I won't get your hair combed in time for school. Tommy (superciliously). Oh, shoot the school. Ibid., New York Herald. One lady . . . with derisive scorn . . . observed in the language of the day, 'Oh, shoot that hat!'
1870. New Orleans Picayune, 17 Mar. I found this man dead drunk in the gutter . . . he offered to fight me. saying that he was not drunk, but only shot in the neck.
1872. Echo, 29 July, 'Railway Porters' Strike.' The prisoner urged the men to shoot the horses in the vans . . . [i.e.] to take the horses out of the vans to prevent them from being unloaded. Prisoner was told if he had any grievances the shooting of the horses was not the way to redress them.
1876. Burton, Songs [Bartlett]. The slang the gang is using now, You'll hear from every lip; It's shoot the hat! and get it boiled; And don't you lose your grip.
1878. Yates [World, 16 Jan.] Adjust your curls, your linen shoot, your coat wide open fling.
1886. Daily News, 8 Oct. The boy who won never did anything in later life. He had shot his bolt.
1887. Francis, Saddle and Mocassin. If he could kill Indians shooting off his mouth at them, he'd soon clean them out all there is.
1887. Fun, 8 June, 246. A canny Scot was recently sentenced to ten days' hard for shooting the crow—i.e., ordering half-a-quartern of whiskey, drinking it rapidly, and neglecting to pay.
1896. Crane, Maggie, xi. Youse fellers er lookin' fer a scrap, an' it's like yeh'll fin' one if yeh keeps on shootin' off yer mout's.
1897. Pearson's Mag., Sep., 254. He thought he saw the means of getting square with the millionaire who had done him such an unscrupulous shot in the eye.
1899. Whiteing, John St., xxi. If it warn't ready, he give the shove to the 'ole shoot.
Shootabout, subs. (school: esp.
Charterhouse).—An irregular
form of football.
