shoot-up

[ shoot-uhp ]

noun

, Slang.

1. an act or instance of injecting an addictive drug intravenously.
2. shootout ( def 1 ).

shoot up

verb

1. intr to grow or become taller very fast
2. tr to hit with a number of shots
3. tr to spread terror throughout (a place) by lawless and wanton shooting
4. slang.
   tr to inject (someone, esp oneself) with (a drug, esp heroin)

Word History and Origins

Origin of shoot-up¹

First recorded in 1965–70; noun use of verb phrase shoot up

Example Sentences

The prevailing wisdom has it that narcos don't shoot up the places where they invest their money.

From The Daily Beast

Dickinson declined to say the name of his strip club, for fear that someone may “go there and try to shoot up the place.”

From The Daily Beast

A Minnesota politician claimed most NBA teams could be shutdown and we would only notice because crime would shoot up.

From The Daily Beast

I had watched her shoot up into a slender but exquisitely formed woman from a frail, awkward child.

From The Daily Beast

Unfortunately, when Oceana residents discovered how to shoot up Suboxone, a black market developed for the drug.

From The Daily Beast

Other children would shoot up like corn stalks, but I stayed right where I had been in the months and years past.

From Project Gutenberg

You see, we had no town to shoot up, so we just punctured the scenery.

From Project Gutenberg

An honorable member who had been expelled for the use of too strong language, returned to "shoot up" the House.

From Project Gutenberg

The posts are poles cut from the trees' branches and when stuck in the ground they shoot up so rapidly that they soon are trees.

From Project Gutenberg

Such beginnings made people think that he should soon shoot up into a giant.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• cover
• develop
• draw
• expand
• fill
• go
• grow
• lengthen
• open
• pull
• reach
• run
• span
• spread
• strain
• swell
• unfold
• widen