shoot the moon

Definitions

1. 1

   To 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.
2. 2

   To achieve the lowest or highest score possible, such that the player is usually rewarded…

   To 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.
   • When Randy took the queen of spades on the last trick in our game of hearts, he shot the moon.
3. 3

   To abscond without paying one's rent.

   • 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, […]
   • 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.
4. ›+ 1 more definitionshow fewer

   1. 4

      Used other than figuratively or idiomatically

      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.

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