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potshot

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potshot

Where it comes from

From pot + shot. 1858, shot taken for the (cooking) pot, namely for food; see pothunter. Sense “opportunistic criticism” from 1926. Sense “drunk” from obsolete pot (“cup used for drinking liquor”).

noun potshots · pot shot · pot-shot

  1. A shot taken at an easy or random target. to take a potshot at
  2. figuratively Criticism of an easy target; a cheap shot. He takes his share of potshots (mostly at the Da Vinci surgical robot), but the conscience of the film is in the stories of Essure, a procedure marketed to women as a hassle-free alternative to tubal ligation

verb potshots · potshotting · potshotted · pot shot · pot-shot

  1. To fire potshots. Howard appeared in the doorway. “Say, Sig, go down to the corral and saddle up Teddy for Steve, will you? Some of his friends have been potshotting at him again. No damage done, except to my feelings, but there's nothing like being careful.”

adjective more potshot · most potshot · pot shot · pot-shot

  1. obsolete, slang Drunk.

    Similar: Adrian Quist, adrip, aled up, all mops and brooms, arseholed, a sheet in the wind, a sheet in the wind's eye, bedrunken, befuddled, beliquored, besotted, besotten

verb pot shot · pot-shot

  1. participle, past simple past and past participle of potshoot

Translations

Every language

noun shot at an easy target or at random

DeutschSchuss aufs Geratewohl

noun criticism of an easy target

DeutschSeitenhieb

verb to fire potshots

Deutschdrauflosballern

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Cite this
MLA

"potshot." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/potshot. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

potshot. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/potshot

Chicago

"potshot." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/potshot.

BibTeX
@misc{potshot_2026,
  title = {potshot},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/potshot},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}