airshoot

English

Etymology

air +‎ shoot

Noun

airshoot (plural airshoots)

1. (rare, weaponry) A shot at something that is in the air, or a shot in midair.
   • 1984, Surface Warfare - Volume 9, Issue 2, page 27:

     The impressive results: naval gunfire support qualification achieved an 86.3 average, scoring 100 in two surface gunnery shoots , and a 95 grade for an airshoot.

   • 2002, Denis Falvey, A Well-known Excellence, page 160:

     We had an account to settle with these compound mortars, and were therefore pleased when an RAF jeep arrived to link us with two Spitfires to carry out airshoots on these deadly nuisances.

2. (architecture) A channel for providing ventilation.
   • 1914, The Electrical Review - Volume 74, page 764:

     Each transformer has a sheet-iron case, connected to an airshoot which discharges the warm air outside the building.

   • 1978, Susanna Hoe, The Man who Gave His Company Away: A Biography of Ernest Bader, Founder of the Scott Bader Commonwealth, page 147:

     As to the first idea — a new polyester outlet is to replace the present ugly, heavy, dirty-looking airshoot for putting into portholes for greater ventilation now made of tin or galvanized iron like this at which point he drew a diagram).

   • 1982, Ahmad Hasan Dani, Thatta: Islamic Architecture, page 187:

     Its special characteristic is that the mihrab has three airshoots leading air into windows.

   • 2013, Joe Kerr, Andrew Gibson, London From Punk to Blair, page 187:

     Squatting in offices and businesses, invading the rafters and airshoots of an increasingly and overly built environment — pigeons show that they can survive anywhere.

3. (botany) A filiform shoot of a water plant that floats on the surface of the water and contains bract-like organs.
   • 1933, Gunnar Seidenfaden, Paul Emil Elliot Gelting, Thorvald Julius Sørensen, The Vascular Plants of Northeast Greenland from 74 ̊30' to 79 ̊00' N. Lat. and a Summary of All Species Found in East Greenland, page 292:

     At the end of the vegetation period not only the flower-bearing airshoot, but also smaller or greater parts of the purely vegetative stems die away.

   • 2006, Barry A. Rice, Barry Meyers-Rice, Growing Carnivorous Plants, page 150:

     To understand the genus more fully, the enthusiastic student should research its additional specialized structures such as rhizoids, airshoots, scales, bracts, bracteoles, and quadrifid glands.

   • 2010, Agnes Arber, Water Plants: A Study of Aquatic Angiosperms, page 97:

     The British species of Utricularia which produce 'earthshoots' never show the second form of modification, the 'airshoot' ( L in Fig. 65, p . 98), which occurs only in U. vulgaris and in the closely allied U. neglecta.

4. (botany) A root-like structure that runs along the surface of the ground, putting down roots at a distance as a form of propagation.
   • 1914, Robert Patrick Wright, The Standard Cyclopedia of Modern Agriculture and Rural Economy, page 126:

     As soon as the airshoots appear they should be hoed, and if the hoeing is continued so as to check the airshoots, the weed may ultimately be destroyed.

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