"shoot the shit" meaning in English

See shoot the shit in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-shoot the shit.ogg Forms: shoots the shit [present, singular, third-person], shooting the shit [participle, present], shot the shit [participle, past], shot the shit [past]
Etymology: Shoot the shit is a variation of shoot the breeze. Both of these expressions mean “to chat idly just to pass the time.” A form of shoot the breeze is recorded in a poem written during World War I by a US private, who described his corporals as sociable men who were much better at “breeze-shooting” than fighting or doing actual work. It doesn’t require much skill or effort to hit the wind with a gun, so the expression goes. Shoot the shit emerges in the 1940s, notably found in a letter by the author Norman Mailer. The shit, here, may be a more intensive and alliterative substitute for breeze, with shit meaning “stuff,” i.e., any old topic. Ever the shit-talker, the character Holden Caulfield used a milder take on the expression, shoot the crap, in J.D. Salinger’s 1951 The Catcher in the Rye. Head templates: {{en-verb|shoot<,,shot> the shit}} shoot the shit (third-person singular simple present shoots the shit, present participle shooting the shit, simple past and past participle shot the shit)
  1. (slang, vulgar) To chat casually; to gossip. Tags: slang, vulgar Synonyms: shoot the breeze, chew the fat
    Sense id: en-shoot_the_shit-en-verb-ikuLIGyc Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English predicates, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "Shoot the shit is a variation of shoot the breeze. Both of these expressions mean “to chat idly just to pass the time.” A form of shoot the breeze is recorded in a poem written during World War I by a US private, who described his corporals as sociable men who were much better at “breeze-shooting” than fighting or doing actual work. It doesn’t require much skill or effort to hit the wind with a gun, so the expression goes.\nShoot the shit emerges in the 1940s, notably found in a letter by the author Norman Mailer. The shit, here, may be a more intensive and alliterative substitute for breeze, with shit meaning “stuff,” i.e., any old topic. Ever the shit-talker, the character Holden Caulfield used a milder take on the expression, shoot the crap, in J.D. Salinger’s 1951 The Catcher in the Rye.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "shoots the shit",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shooting the shit",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shot the shit",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shot the shit",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "shoot<,,shot> the shit"
      },
      "expansion": "shoot the shit (third-person singular simple present shoots the shit, present participle shooting the shit, simple past and past participle shot the shit)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English predicates",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "We didn't do much besides stand around and shoot the shit, but it was fun to see him again.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To chat casually; to gossip."
      ],
      "id": "en-shoot_the_shit-en-verb-ikuLIGyc",
      "links": [
        [
          "chat",
          "chat"
        ],
        [
          "casually",
          "casually"
        ],
        [
          "gossip",
          "gossip"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, vulgar) To chat casually; to gossip."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "shoot the breeze"
        },
        {
          "word": "chew the fat"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang",
        "vulgar"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-shoot the shit.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/16/En-au-shoot_the_shit.ogg/En-au-shoot_the_shit.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/En-au-shoot_the_shit.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "shoot the shit"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "Shoot the shit is a variation of shoot the breeze. Both of these expressions mean “to chat idly just to pass the time.” A form of shoot the breeze is recorded in a poem written during World War I by a US private, who described his corporals as sociable men who were much better at “breeze-shooting” than fighting or doing actual work. It doesn’t require much skill or effort to hit the wind with a gun, so the expression goes.\nShoot the shit emerges in the 1940s, notably found in a letter by the author Norman Mailer. The shit, here, may be a more intensive and alliterative substitute for breeze, with shit meaning “stuff,” i.e., any old topic. Ever the shit-talker, the character Holden Caulfield used a milder take on the expression, shoot the crap, in J.D. Salinger’s 1951 The Catcher in the Rye.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "shoots the shit",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shooting the shit",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shot the shit",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "shot the shit",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "shoot<,,shot> the shit"
      },
      "expansion": "shoot the shit (third-person singular simple present shoots the shit, present participle shooting the shit, simple past and past participle shot the shit)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English predicates",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English verbs",
        "English vulgarities",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "We didn't do much besides stand around and shoot the shit, but it was fun to see him again.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To chat casually; to gossip."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "chat",
          "chat"
        ],
        [
          "casually",
          "casually"
        ],
        [
          "gossip",
          "gossip"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, vulgar) To chat casually; to gossip."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang",
        "vulgar"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-shoot the shit.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/16/En-au-shoot_the_shit.ogg/En-au-shoot_the_shit.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/En-au-shoot_the_shit.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "shoot the breeze"
    },
    {
      "word": "chew the fat"
    }
  ],
  "word": "shoot the shit"
}

Download raw JSONL data for shoot the shit meaning in English (2.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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