shoot up

verb

shot up; shooting up; shoots up

transitive verb

1
: to shoot or shoot at especially recklessly
cowboys shooting up the town
2
: to inject (a narcotic drug) into a vein

intransitive verb

: to inject a narcotic into a vein
shoot-up noun

Examples of shoot up in a Sentence

gas prices shot up seemingly overnight
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The middle of his body went first while his legs shot up into the air. Liz O'Connell, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Oct. 2025 So, when Goldman Sachs announced plans on Monday to acquire Industry Ventures, eyebrows shot up. Allie Garfinkle, Fortune, 15 Oct. 2025 Between July and August, the number of job openings in construction took a dramatic fall, from 303,000 to 180,000, and the number of construction workers quitting shot up from 90,000 to 146,000. Aldo Svaldi, Denver Post, 12 Oct. 2025 Joshua Finney, 38, is accused of sending Facebook messages to a relative threatening to shoot up Morton Ranch High School in Katy, Texas, and the Houston Zoo, ABC News affiliate ABC 13 reported. Mason Leath, ABC News, 10 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for shoot up

Word History

First Known Use

1890, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of shoot up was in 1890

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Shoot up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shoot%20up. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!