slingshot

From sling +‎ shot.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈslɪŋʃɒt/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪŋʃɒt
• Hyphenation: sling‧shot

slingshot (plural slingshots)

1. (chiefly US, Australia, Philippines) A Y-shaped stick with an elastic sling between the arms used for shooting small projectiles.
   • 1982, Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me, Sydney: Fontana/Collins, page 61:

     ‘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.’

2. (pinball) A 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. (powerlifting) An implement of a broad fabric worn around and connecting both bicipites brachii to support benching the most heavy weights.

   Hypernym: elastic band

• (stick with elastic band for shooting projectiles): bean shooter, catapult (UK), flip, hand catapult, shanghai (Australia and New Zealand)

slingshot (third-person singular simple present slingshots, present participle slingshotting, simple past and past participle slingshotted)

1. To move or cause to move in a manner resembling a projectile shot from a slingshot.
2. (especially) 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.

• gravity assist