Shoot, v. i.
 1. To cause an engine or weapon to discharge a missile; -- said of a person or an agent; as, they shot at a target; he shoots better than he rides.
    The archers have . . . shot at him.   --Gen. xlix. 23.
 2. To discharge a missile; -- said of an engine or instrument; as, the gun shoots well.
 3. To be shot or propelled forcibly; -- said of a missile; to be emitted or driven; to move or extend swiftly, as if propelled; as, a shooting star.
    There shot a streaming lamp along the sky.   --Dryden.
 4. To penetrate, as a missile; to dart with a piercing sensation; as, shooting pains.
    Thy words shoot through my heart.   --Addison.
 5. To feel a quick, darting pain; to throb in pain.
 These preachers make
 His head to shoot and ache.   --Herbert.
 6. To germinate; to bud; to sprout.
    Onions, as they hang, will shoot forth.   --Bacon.
    But the wild olive shoots, and shades the ungrateful plain.   --Dryden.
 7. To grow; to advance; as, to shoot up rapidly.
    Well shot in years he seemed.   --Spenser.
 Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,
 To teach the young idea how to shoot.   --Thomson.
 8. To change form suddenly; especially, to solidify.
    If the menstruum be overcharged, metals will shoot into crystals.   --Bacon.
 9. To protrude; to jut; to project; to extend; as, the land shoots into a promontory.
    There shot up against the dark sky, tall, gaunt, straggling houses.   --Dickens.
 10. Naut. To move ahead by force of momentum, as a sailing vessel when the helm is put hard alee.
 To shoot ahead, to pass or move quickly forward; to outstrip others.