dart

plural darts

1. A pointed missile weapon, intended to be thrown by the hand; for example, a short lance or javelin.

   Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.

   1769, Oxford Standard Text, “King James Bible”, in 2 Samuel, xviii, 14

2. Any sharp-pointed missile weapon, such as an arrow.
3. figurativelysometimesAnything resembling such a missile; something that pierces or wounds like such a weapon.

   The artful inquiry, whose venom′d dart / Scarce wounds the hearing while it stabs the heart.

   1830, Hannah More, Sensibility: The Works of Hannah More, volume 1, page 38

4. A small object with a pointed tip at one end and feathers at the other, which is thrown at a target in the game of darts.
5. geometryA concave quadrilateral similar in shape to a chevron or arrowhead.
6. AustraliaCanadaNew ZealandcolloquialA cigarette.

   1 more example

   2017, April 18, Craig Little, The Guardian, Hawthorn are not the only ones finding that things can get worse The Tigers will also face Jesse Hogan, still smarting from missing a couple of games but not life inside the AFL bubble, where you can’t even light up a dart at a music festival without someone filming it and sending it to the six o’clock news.

7. governmentA dart-shaped target towed behind an aircraft to train shooters.

   Fighter aircraft also use restricted areas for target shooting at darts towed 1500 feet behind another aircraft.

   1988, Michigan Aviation, volumes 21-25, page 62

8. AustraliaobsoleteA plan or scheme.

   Trucking′s my dart too.

   1947, Norman Lindsay, Halfway to Anywhere, published 1970, page 79

9. A sudden or fast movement.

   Soon as I felt the floor tremor I made a dart for the door.

   1 more example

   Six minutes later Cueto went over for his second try after the recalled Mike Tindall found him with a perfectly-timed pass, before Ashton went on another dart, this time down his opposite wing, only for his speculative pass inside to be ruled forward.

   2011 September 24, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 67-3 Romania”, in BBC Sport

10. businessA fold that is stitched on a garment.

    Somehow she managed, with a cinched waist here and a few darts there, to look like a Hollywood star.

    2013, “Nadia Popova”, in The Economist

11. A dace (fish) (Leuciscus leuciscus).
12. Any of various species of hesperiid butterfly.

present singular third person darts · participle present darting · participle past darted · past darted

1. transitiveTo throw with a sudden effort or thrust; to hurl or launch.
2. transitiveTo send forth suddenly or rapidly; to emit; to shoot.

   As the sun darted forth his beams, she darted a meaningful glance at me.

   2 more examples

   Pan came, and ask'd, what magic caus'd my ſmart, / Or what ill eyes malignant glances dart?

   1717, Alexander Pope, “Autumn. The Third Pastoral. […]”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], →OCLC, page 28

   Yossarian responded to the thought by slipping away stealthily from the police and almost tripped over the feet of a burly woman of forty hastening across the intersection guiltily, darting furtive, vindictive glances behind her toward a woman of eighty with thick, bandaged ankles doddering after her in a losing pursuit.

   1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Eternal City”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 432

3. transitiveTo shoot with a dart, especially a tranquilizer dart.

   They had to dart the animal to get close enough to help

4. intransitiveTo fly or pass swiftly, like a dart; to move rapidly in one direction; to shoot out quickly.

   The flying man darted eastward.

5. intransitiveTo start and run with speed; to shoot rapidly along.

   The fish darted under a stone.

   3 more examples

   The deer darted from the thicket.

   By half-time, it was almost a surprise that the away side had restricted themselves to only one more goal. Messi, again, was prominently involved, darting past Fernando and then Zabaleta.

   2015 February 24, Daniel Taylor, “Luis Suárez strikes twice as Barcelona teach Manchester City a lesson”, in The Guardian (London)

   The impressive Frenchman drove forward with purpose down the right before cutting infield and darting in between Vassiriki Diaby and Koscielny.

   2010 December 29, Mark Vesty, “Wigan 2 - 2 Arsenal”, in BBC

   Synonyms: dash, steam

plural DARTs

1. abbreviationacronymAcronym of disaster assistance response team.
2. Disaster animal response team.
3. Disaster area response team.
4. abbreviationAbbreviation of disaster assistance and rescue team.
5. Disaster response team.

1. abbreviationacronymAcronym of Dublin Area Rapid Transit.
2. abbreviationacronymAcronym of Dallas Area Rapid Transit.

1. A river in Devon, England, which flows from Dartmoor to the English Channel at Dartmouth.
2. An unincorporated community in Washington County, Ohio, United States, said to be named for a bird flying like a dart.

plural Darts

1. A surname from Middle English.

plural Darts

1. UKslanggovernmentAn officer trained at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, England.

1. abbreviationacronymbiologyAcronym of Diversity arrays technology (“a genetic marker technique”).