shots

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of shot.

   The photographer reviewed all the shots from the wedding that evening.

   Villagers heard distant shots echoing across the valley.

   Note

   The plural belongs to the countable uses: shots fired, shots at goal, the heavy iron balls thrown in the shot put. The ammunition is different. The small pellets packed into a shotgun shell are uncountable, so a cartridge holds shot, never shots. The athletics event is also uncountable: an athlete competes in the shot, not the shots.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of shot.

   The angler shots his line with split lead to reach deeper water.

   She carefully shots the line so the bait sinks slowly.

   Note

   Here shot is a verb in its own right, not the past tense of shoot. Nobody says he shots a rifle. Its meanings all take an object: one shots a gun by loading it with shot. In Multicultural London English it means to sell illegal drugs. An old, now obsolete horse-dealer's fraud shotted a broken-winded horse, feeding it small shot to disguise its condition.

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