Literary notes about shoot (AI summary)
The term "shoot" appears with remarkable versatility in literature, functioning both as a descriptor of violent physical action and as a metaphor for spontaneous growth or movement. In narratives filled with tension, characters may declare intentions to shoot as a means of defense or retribution, as in statements promising to "shoot him dead" [1] or even self-destructive resolves like shooting oneself [2], [3]. At the same time, the word vividly conveys natural imagery—illustrating how a tender new plant shoot sprouts upward [4]—or the sudden, energetic motion of objects, for instance, as sparks shoot down a metal spur [5]. Thus, across a broad spectrum of contexts—from combat and self-harm to the organic burst of life—the word "shoot" powerfully encapsulates acts of both creation and destruction [6], [7].
- He called to me and said, ‘A thief has just entered my home, and I have come to shoot him dead.’
— from Korean folk tales : by Pang Im and Yuk Yi - Perhaps I shall not shoot myself at all, either now or later.”
— from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Karamazov would die, Karamazov would shoot himself and it should be remembered!
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - A shoot deprived of roots and dropped in some moist place is soon covered with bright green leaves and adventitious roots.
— from The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by T. H. Pardo de Tavera - In one hideous pitching movement, the Nautilus reared its steel spur into the air like a lightning rod, and I saw long sparks shoot down it.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - V. ascend, rise, mount, arise, uprise; go up, get up, work one's way up, start up; shoot up, go into orbit; float up; bubble up; aspire.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget - ( ‘ Even so did I once see the young shoot of a date palm springing up near the altar of Apollo on Delos. ’
— from The Works of the Emperor Julian, Vol. 2 by Emperor of Rome Julian
