lush would be delighted to get some of your
shoe polish.shoestringmod. low-cost; cheap. (See also
on a shoestring.) This is just a shoe-
string operation. There is no capital in-
volved. We have nothing but a shoe-
string budget this year.
shoo-in[“SuIn] n. an easy winner. She’s
a shoo-in. Nobody can touch her. My
horse was a shoo-in. It won by a mile.
shook upGo to (all) shook up.
shoot 1. and shoot uptv. & in. to inject
drugs, especially heroin. (Drugs.) He
actually had to leave the meeting to shoot.
The two of them were shooting up skag.
- n. an injection of heroin. (Drugs. Usu-
ally shoot-up.) The way Ernie was
yawning, I knew he needed a shoot-up.
“Just one more shot. That’s all. Then, never
again!” moaned Ernie, rather unconvinc-
ingly. 3. tv. to spike a drink with liquor.
I’m gonna shoot the punch with rum.
Harry shot his date’s coke with vodka. 4.
in. to begin to tell [something]. We’re
ready. Go ahead. Shoot! Okay, shoot.
I’m all ears. 5. Go to Shoot!
Shoot!exclam. Darn! (An exclamation or
a very mild curse.) Oh, shoot! I left my
shades in the car. Shoot! I’m late!
shoot ’em up 1. n. a Western action movie.
I like a good shoot ’em up every now
and then. Most films are more sophis-
ticated nowadays than the old shoot ’em
ups. 2. mod. having to do with a West-
ern action film. He was a shoot ’em up
star in the thirties. I like the good old
shoot ’em up movies.
shoot for the skyGo to aim for the sky.
shoot from the hipin. to speak quickly
and without thinking. (See also hip-
shooter.) She has a tendency to shoot
from the hip, but that’s not really a prob-
lem. I shot from the hip when I spoke.
I’m sorry.
shooting ironn. a pistol. (Cowboy and
folksy.) Millard “Shorty” Wilson always
carried his shooting iron with him, except
for one fateful day back in ’92—1892, that
is. He pulled out his shooting iron and
got down to cleaning it.
shoot one’s breakfastGo to shoot one’s
cookies.
shoot one’s cookies and shoot one’s
breakfast; shoot one’s suppertv. to
empty one’s stomach; to vomit. I think
I’m gonna shoot my cookies. I shot my
supper, and I was glad to get rid of it.
shoot oneself in the foottv. to cause one-
self difficulty; to be the author of one’s
own doom. I am a master at shooting
myself in the foot. Again, he shot him-
self in the foot with his open and honest
dealings with the press.
shoot one’s mouth offtv. to brag; to tell
secrets. Stop shooting your mouth off.
Nobody believes you anymore. TSo you
had to go and shoot off your mouth about
the bankruptcy proceedings!
shoot one’s supperGo to shoot one’s
cookies.
shoot one’s wadtv. to spend or use every-
thing. I shot my wad on junk food. I
can’t afford a cab. I shot my wad at the
restaurant.
shoot-out 1. n. a gunfight. There was a
big shoot-out at the end of the movie. In
this shoot-out, there were no survivors—
not even a horse! 2. n. an argument.
When the shoot-out was over, the boss—
confident she had won—went back into
her office. A big public shoot-out like
that sours morale a lot.
shoot someone down in flamestv. to
ruin someone; to bring about someone’s
downfall. (See also go down in flames.)
It was a bad idea, okay, but you didn’t
have to shoot me down in f lames. I
didn’t mean to shoot you down in f lames.
shoot someone or something downtv.
to ruin someone or something; to debunk
someone or something. (See also shot
down.) Just as I was making the final
point, she shot me down with a simple fact
I should have remembered. TThe boss
shot down my plan immediately.
shoot the breezetv. to chat casually and
without purpose. We spent the entireshoestring