slingshot

plural slingshots

1. AustraliaPhilippinesUSA Y-shaped stick with an elastic sling between the arms used for shooting small projectiles.

   ‘Terry Madison. Instead of fiddling with that shanghai, give us a thought.’ ‘It’s a gongai,’ Swiftie said. ‘I mean that’s the name for a shanghai which is another name for a catapult...that Mr Delarue calls a slingshot.’

   1982, Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me, Sydney: Fontana/Collins, page 61

   Synonyms: bean shooter, catapult, flip, hand catapult, shanghai

2. pinballA stationary, often triangular object that launches any ball that hits its longest side back at a high force, now usually located above the flipper and between it and the inlane, with one each for both lower flippers.
3. A sling bikini.
4. An implement of a broad fabric worn around and connecting both bicipites brachii to support benching the most heavy weights.
5. UKslangautomotiveThe act of passing cars queuing in the left-hand lane and using the right-hand lane to go around a roundabout, exiting at the desired junction having avoided the queue.
6. Synonym of slingshot effect.

   Synonyms: slingshot effect

present singular third person slingshots · participle present slingshotting · participle past slingshotted · past slingshotted

1. To move or cause to move in a manner resembling a projectile shot from a slingshot.
2. To use the gravity of a moving planet to add momentum to a spacecraft.

   The shuttle will slingshot around Jupiter on its way to Saturn.

3. UKslangautomotiveTo perform the slingshot manoeuvre (see Noun).