slingshot
/ˈslɪŋˌʃɑt/
verb
- To shoot or launch something from a slingshot or similar device.
- He slingshots a rubber band across the room when he is bored.
- The kids slingshot pebbles at empty bottles during their summer vacation.
- They slingshot marshmallows at each other for fun at the campfire.
- To move or be thrown suddenly and forcefully, as if from a slingshot.
- When the door opened, the cat slingshots out of the house into the yard.
- The roller coaster slingshots riders around a sharp curve at high speed.
- The car slingshots past the finish line, winning the race by inches.
- To use a gravity assist to increase the speed of a spacecraft.
- The mission plan slingshots the probe around Mars to reach the asteroid belt.
- The spacecraft slingshots past Earth to gain the momentum needed for its deep-space journey.
- Engineers calculated how to slingshot the satellite using the Moon's gravity.
noun
- A Y-shaped stick with an elastic band attached to the two prongs, used for shooting small stones or other projectiles.
- The boy used a slingshot to launch pebbles at a tin can in the backyard.
- He aimed his slingshot carefully and hit the target from twenty feet away.
- In many countries, children make slingshots from tree branches and rubber bands.
- A device or mechanism that uses elastic force to launch something, often used in physics demonstrations or toys.
- The science teacher built a slingshot to show how potential energy converts to kinetic energy.
- A giant slingshot was used in the experiment to launch a watermelon across the field.
- The toy company released a new slingshot that shoots foam darts safely.
- A maneuver in which a vehicle or spacecraft uses the gravity of a planet or moon to increase its speed, also called a gravity assist.
- The probe's trajectory included a slingshot past Venus to save fuel.
- The spacecraft performed a slingshot around Jupiter to gain enough speed for its journey to Saturn.
- Racing drivers sometimes use a slingshot move to pass an opponent on a straightaway.