catapult

Pluralcatapults

Formscatapults, catapulting, catapulted

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A device or weapon that hurls large objects across a distance.

   Like a huge slingshot scaled up to throw boulders.

   Medieval armies used a catapult to hurl stones at fortified walls.

   The museum displayed a reconstructed catapult from the Roman era.

   Note

   Greek built the name from motion: katá, "downwards, against", and pállō, to poise or sway a missile before it is thrown. The word therefore pictures the instant before release rather than the machine's frame. It reached English through Middle French catapulte from Latin catapulta, which survives beside it as a doublet. Every later launching and soaring sense grows from this engine.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To raise something's status or position rapidly and dramatically.

   Like a sudden leap from the back row to center stage.

   The award catapulted the young director into the international spotlight.

   A single bestseller can catapult a writer to the top of the industry.

   Similarpropel, rocket, shoot, launch

   Note

   The figurative verb nearly always names a destination: someone is catapulted to the national scene, into a job, or among the favorites. It is at home in the passive, and the passive stresses how sudden and unchosen the rise was. Lyndon Johnson, in The Vantage Point (1971), was "catapulted without preparation into the most difficult job any mortal man can hold."

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To launch or hurl something forcefully through the air.

   The crew catapulted supplies across the ravine using a makeshift launcher.

   Engineers designed a device to catapult water balloons over the wall.

   Similarhurl, launch, fling, propel

4. 4
   nounUKcountable

   A handheld Y-shaped frame with an elastic band, used to shoot small stones or pellets.

   Like a pocket-sized sling for throwing pebbles.

   He pulled back the catapult and sent a pebble flying across the garden.

   Village children would hunt birds with a homemade catapult.

   Similarslingshot

   Note

   British speakers use this word for a small hand weapon that other English speakers call a slingshot. Context usually separates it from the siege engine. A catapult kept in a child's pocket or aimed at a garden pigeon is this one. A writer addressing readers outside Britain may do better to write slingshot, or to pair the two words once.

5. 5
   nouncountable

   A mechanical device on an aircraft carrier that accelerates airplanes to takeoff speed along the flight deck.

   Like a launching track that builds enough speed for takeoff.

   The carrier's steam catapult hurled the fighter off the bow in seconds.

   Deck crews secured the aircraft to the catapult before launch.

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To launch a missile or projectile from a siege engine or similar throwing device.

   The defenders catapulted flaming rocks at the advancing army.

   Engineers rebuilt the engine so it could catapult heavier stones.

   Similarhurl, launch, fling, fire

7. 7
   verbintransitive

   To rise rapidly in status, fame, or position.

   Like rocketing from obscurity to fame overnight.

   The novel catapulted onto every bestseller list within a week.

   Few performers catapult to international fame so quickly.

   Similarrocket, shoot, soar, skyrocket

   Oppositeplummet

   Note

   Here the rise needs no one to cause it. "She catapulted to the national scene" says what "she was catapulted to the national scene" says, but without the passive and without an agent. The intransitive form keeps the destination phrase with to or into that the transitive status verb uses. It suits headlines and quick narrative, where the sudden ascent is the whole story.

8. 8
   verbintransitive

   To be launched or thrown forcefully through the air, as if shot from a throwing engine.

   Like being flung from a sling when the tension releases.

   The cyclist catapulted over the fence when the front wheel jammed.

   Passengers can catapult forward if a vehicle stops suddenly without restraints.

   Similarhurtle, fly, shoot, pitch

9. 9
   nounfigurativelycountable

   A single instance of being launched forward or upward, as if shot from a throwing engine.

   Like a single launch from obscurity into the spotlight.

   The merger served as a catapult into markets the company had never reached.

   His debut album was the catapult that carried him from clubs to stadiums.

   Similarspringboard, launchpad

   Note

   Sports writing keeps this figurative noun busy. Chris Bevan's BBC report on Stoke 2–1 West Ham (2011) calls one of Rory Delap's long throws "another Delap catapult", with the ball flung into the box like a missile. The noun counts single launches, so it takes an article or a possessive (a catapult, Delap's catapult) and pairs naturally with the thrower's name.

10. 10
    nouncountable

    A single discharge of a missile from a siege engine or throwing weapon.

    The opening catapult of the assault demolished the gatehouse.

    After the third catapult, the defenders' wall began to crumble.

    Similarvolley, shot

Showing meanings only. Show all 10