🔔 Short metallic sounds 🎯 Casual target shooting

plinking

9.6

Shooting at small targets like cans for fun

noun
/ˈplɪŋkɪŋ/

Jargon

: disparar a objetivos

He set up various objects in the field for some fun plinking with his new rifle.

Examples

The sound of plinking echoed across the field as the group aimed at bottles.
On weekends, we often go plinking at the range.
They spent the afternoon plinking at empty cans lined up on the fence.
Many people enjoy plinking as a relaxing way to practice their shooting skills.
He enjoys plinking cans in the backyard.
On weekends, many people enjoy plinking at cans and bottles in their backyards.
After practicing at the range, they went plinking to improve their aim on smaller targets.

Synonyms

shooting

vsplinking

350 2.3

Firing a gun for practice or sport

is a casual activity aimed at enjoyment not skill improvement

shoot

vsplinking

184 4.2

An event where people fire at targets for sport or practice

is informal and done for simple enjoyment with small nonstandard targets

target practice

vsplinking

23 3.3

Shooting at objects to improve skill with guns or bows

is done mainly for casual enjoyment rather than to improve skill

How Casual

plinking

Jargon

9.6

target practice

23 3.3

hunting

360 1.0

hostile fire

Specialized

3 7.0

Surface Forms

plinking singular

plinkings plural

Morphology

plinking = plink (semi-transparent) = plink + ing

The recreational-shooting sense is a metonymic extension from the sound sense (bullets making 'plink' on tin), so learners knowing only the sound sense may not automatically infer the 'shooting' meaning.

Etymology

Plinking is also used for casual shooting at cans and other small targets because a hit makes a quick plink noise when it hits metal, and that familiar sound gave the activity its name.