powder and shot
- noun
- Archaic
:
pólvora y balas
Examples
-
With rifle, powder, and shot.
Fiction book (1994) -
Charges were bitten open, and powder and shot slammed in.
Fiction book (1990) -
Richard Spruce, a "bryologist" (liverworts and mosses), could kill them if he wanted to, but didn't care to waste powder and shot.
Fiction book (1991) -
The hunters carried their rifles along with powder and shot for a successful day in the field.
-
In the past, soldiers would load their muskets with powder and shot before heading into battle.
-
He opened the old chest to reveal a supply of powder and shot, necessary for their historical reenactment.
Synonyms
197
5.3
Small metal objects like bullets and shells that guns shoot
1
9.9
A paper case holding gunpowder and a bullet for old guns
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally names its parts: 'powder' (gunpowder) + 'and' + 'shot' (projectiles), so its meaning—ammunition made of gunpowder and bullets—is directly compositional and predictable from the constituents. Although somewhat archaic, the construction is straightforward and mirrored in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the component words would understand it.
Etymology
Powder and shot comes from the days when soldiers and hunters carried gunpowder and small metal balls to fire their old guns. Powder was used to make a gun fire and shot were the small balls, so the phrase came to mean 'ammunition' today.