boss-shotn.
dialect and slang.
a. A bad shot or aim; figurative an unsuccessful attempt.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > failure or lack of success > [noun] > failed attempt
stumblea1635
flash in the pan1705
false start1815
flat move1819
boss-shot1890
crash-and-burn1985
the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [noun] > unskilful action or working > bungling attempt
fumblec1831
boss-shot1890
boss1898
1890 J. S. Farmer Slang Boss, to miss one's aim; to make such a shot as a boss-eyed person would be expected to make. Boss-shot is a common phrase.
1898 Eng. Dial. Dict. (at cited word) A bad shot with a stone is called a boss-shot.
1912 W. Deeping Sincerity xviii. 141 Harkness made a clutch at the bow, but Master Brandon was too quick for him. He retreated three paces, grinning. ‘Boss shot, that!’
1919 E. H. Jones Road to En-dor (1920) xxviii. 300 The student..made two boss shots before he hit the bull.
b. Also in corrupt form bosh-shot.
ΚΠ
1939 ‘G. Orwell’ Coming up for Air iii. i. 181 The Nazis chop people's heads off..and sometimes the executioner makes a bosh shot.
1959 ‘O. Mills’ Stairway to Murder vii. 80 You haven't been having another bosh shot at the Crown Jewels, have you?
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
<
n.1890