noun ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A cluster of small iron balls, put together in a canvas bag in order to be used as a charge for a cannon. historical, uncountable, usually
2. 2
   a cluster of small projectiles fired together from a cannon to produce a hail of shot wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

ballbar shotbird shotbuckshotbulletcannon shot

Example

More examples

"The cannons opened fire, mowing down the first wave with grapeshot."

Etymology

From grape + shot, named for the resemblance of the bag of shot to a bunch of grapes.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.