Meaning
Something that provides a sudden stimulus, boost, or encouragement - an event, piece of news, or infusion of money that revives energy, confidence, or activity, much as an injection of a stimulant revives a patient. Informal to neutral; a workhorse of business and political journalism. Since it derives from drug injection, some editors prefer alternatives in coverage of addiction or vaccination hesitancy. Regional use: American English (origin); now General English.
Origin
American in origin. Shot has been US slang for a hypodermic injection since the turn of the twentieth century: Etymonline attests the injection sense from 1904, and the Phrase Finder quotes the San Francisco Chronicle Supplement of October 1904 - 'My first shot was when I awoke in the morning.' The figurative phrase followed fast: the Phrase Finder's earliest print example is the Lewiston Evening Journal of Maine, January 1916 ('The vets can give politics a shot in the arm'), while Etymonline dates the figurative stimulant sense by 1922. The record therefore supports an early-1900s American coinage, with the figurative sense established in print by the 1910s.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- a much-needed shot in the arm
- a real shot in the arm
- give something a shot in the arm
Usage Examples
- The new funding round gave the struggling startup a much-needed shot in the arm just as payroll came due.
- Officials hope the summer festival will be a shot in the arm for local restaurants after a slow winter season.
- Scoring twice in the third period was the shot in the arm our sluggish team needed to finally wake up and compete.