parting shot
- noun
- /ˈpɑrtɪŋ ʃɑt/
- Informal
- As he walked out the door, his parting shot was a harsh criticism of the company's policies.
- deliver a parting shot
- take a parting shot
And I I say that to people as my kind of parting shot.
- And I I say that to people as my kind of parting shot.
Examples
-
I just thought I'd take a parting shot before I left.
-
Satisfied, she turns to give me a parting shot.
Fiction book (1990) -
Any parting shots before I ask you one final question?
Blog text (19) -
But it was a nice symbolic parting shot.
Fiction book (1995) -
Everyone had to get in their parting shot before everything noted here becomes no more than a curiosity.
Blog text (1) -
As a parting shot, has this mother introduced her daughter to thrift shopping?
Blog text (19) -
One final parting shot: since this is an election year, let's hear some commentary from the Old Witch.
Blog text (1) -
Cameron didn't go without a parting shot.
Academic text (2001) -
Fixing his gaze on the fluorescent light shining from the second-floor window, the officer left a brusque parting shot: "I've done all I can."
Fiction book (1996) -
Upon his retirement, Santayana came to the University of California, Berkeley, in 1911 to deliver a parting shot at the prevailing anthropocentric American philosophy and religion.
Academic text (1991)
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a final critical remark made on leaving' is directly and compositionally derived from 'parting' (leaving) + 'shot' (a sharp/attacking remark). This is a transparent, predictable combination and matches common cross-linguistic patterns, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Parting shot comes from the image of someone leaving: the word parting means leaving and the word shot is a last fired bullet or attack, like a soldier making one last attack as they go. So, it now means 'a final remark' or action meant to hurt or be remembered.