shoot the moon

present singular third person shoots the moon · participle present shooting the moon · participle past shot the moon · past shot the moon

1. broadlyfigurativelyTo attain great heights, a high value, or a numerically high measurement.

   Already orbiting at altitudes unimaginable a few short years ago, interest rates moved even higher last week and threatened to shoot the moon.

   1981 May 18, John DeMott, “Sky-High Interest Rates”, in Time

2. card gamesTo achieve the lowest or highest score possible, such that the player is usually rewarded with bonus points.

   In our last hand of pinochle, Leon and Janet shot the moon, taking all 50 tricks.

   1 more example

   When Randy took the queen of spades on the last trick in our game of hearts, he shot the moon.

3. slangTo abscond without paying one's rent.

   Perhaps it was Powlett's memory of Boswell's charm that caused him, when he shot the moon and moved to France to escape creditors, to take with him his father-in-law's papers.

   1950, Christopher Morley, Boswell's London Journal 1762-1763 (Preface)

   1 more example

   So that is how the old rascal shot the moon. He is off on blue water by this time with his whole outfit, and will come back with a fortune. The landlord won't grumble, because Schoolbred must pay his rent, […]

   1908, Bram Stoker, A Moon-Light Effect

4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see shoot, moon.

   The Army, making its first attempt to shoot the moon, had spent weeks fussing over the Juno II, a 60-ton Jupiter IRBM with a spike of high-speed rockets.

   1958 December 15, “Juno's Gold Cone”, in Time