dart
UK /dɑːt/ · US /dɑɹt/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms darts darting darted
- noun A pointed missile weapon, intended to be thrown by the hand; for example, a short lance or javelin.
- noun Any sharp-pointed missile weapon, such as an arrow.
- noun (sometimes figurative) Anything resembling such a missile; something that pierces or wounds like such a weapon.
- noun A small object with a pointed tip at one end and feathers at the other, which is thrown at a target in the game of darts.
- noun (geometry) A concave quadrilateral similar in shape to a chevron or arrowhead.
- noun (Australia, Canada, colloquial) A cigarette.
- noun (military) A dart-shaped target towed behind an aircraft to train shooters.
- noun (Australia, obsolete) A plan or scheme.
- verb (transitive) To throw with a sudden effort or thrust; to hurl or launch.
- verb (transitive) To send forth suddenly or rapidly; to emit; to shoot. “As the sun darted forth his beams, she darted a meaningful glance at me.”
- verb (transitive) To shoot with a dart, especially a tranquilizer dart. “They had to dart the animal to get close enough to help”
- verb (intransitive) To fly or pass swiftly, like a dart; to move rapidly in one direction; to shoot out quickly. “The flying man darted eastward.”
- verb (intransitive) To start and run with speed; to shoot rapidly along. “The deer darted from the thicket.”
- noun Disaster animal response team.
- noun Disaster area response team.
- noun Disaster response team.
- proper noun A river in Devon, England, which flows from Dartmoor to the English Channel at Dartmouth.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Washington County, Ohio, United States, said to be named for a bird flying like a dart.
- proper noun A surname from Middle English.
- noun (UK, naval slang) An officer trained at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, England.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English dart, from Old French dart, dard (“dart”), from Medieval Latin dardus, from Frankish *darōþu (“dart, spear”), from Proto-Germanic *darōþuz (“dart, spear”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerh₃- (“to leap, spring”).
Compare Old High German tart (“javelin, dart”), Old English daroþ, dearod (“javelin, spear, dart”), Swedish dart (“dart, dagger”), Icelandic darraður, darr, dör (“dart, spear”).
From Middle English darten, from the noun (see above).
From Proto-Brythonic *dar (“oak”). Cognate to the Darent.
Metonymic occupational surname for a maker of darts, from Middle English dart.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A pointed missile weapon, intended to be thrown by the hand; a short lance; a javelin; hence, any sharp-pointed missile weapon, as an arrow.
- noun Anything resembling a dart; anything that pierces or wounds like a dart.
- verb To throw with a sudden effort or thrust, as a dart or other missile weapon; to hurl or launch.
- verb To throw suddenly or rapidly; to send forth; to emit; to shoot; as, the sun darts forth his beams.
Etymology [OF. dart, of German origin; cf. OHG. tart javelin, dart, AS. dara, daro, Sw. dart dagger, Icel. darra dart.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “dart”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details