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Glite Dictionary
shot hole

shot hole

1 8.6
A hole that workers drill in rock or earth to hold explosives for blasting
  • noun
  • /ʃɑt hoʊl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : agujero de voladura
  • Before the blasting began, they carefully measured the depth of each shot hole.

Examples

  • The workers drilled a shot hole in the granite to prepare for the explosion.

  • The construction crew inspected the shot holes to ensure they were properly placed for safety.

  • Or shot holes in it.

    Blue Ruin (2014)

  • "Did you see the shot hole on the side of the road when you drove up?" he said calmly.

    Blog text (27)

Synonyms

borehole
vsshot hole
  • Specialized
4 6.8

A narrow hole drilled into the ground to find water or minerals

serves to hold explosive charges for blasting rather than for investigation
drill hole
vsshot hole
  • Specialized
3 4.4

A hole made with a drill to take samples or put instruments into rock

serves mainly to hold a packed explosive charge in blasting operations

Surface Forms

shot hole singular
shot holes plural

Morphology

shot + hole

There is a visible link between 'shot' (relating to firing/explosive discharge) and 'hole' (an opening), so a learner might infer a hole connected to shooting or blasting, but the precise technical sense — a drilled bore to receive an explosive charge in mining/blasting — is specialized and not directly predictable from the everyday meanings. Because the meaning requires domain-specific knowledge rather than simple compositional inference, it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

The compound noun shot hole comes from the simple image of workers drilling a hole in rock and placing a small explosive shot into it before a blast. So it means a drilled hole made to hold an explosive charge for blasting.