cat|a|pult

cat|a|pult «KAT uh puhlt», noun, verb.

–n.

1. a) a weapon used in ancient times for shooting stones and arrows. b) British. a slingshot: »

One afternoon I saw two boys with catapults aiming, as I thought, at a high garden wall (Cape Times).

2. a device for launching an airplane or missile from a ship's deck, a ramp, or a truck: »

Its take-off from a carrier deck will be assisted by a catapult, which might be described as a giant slingshot (Science News Letter).

3. a device for ejecting a pilot from an aircraft.

–v.t.

1. to shoot or launch from a catapult.

2. Figurative. to cast suddenly or rapidly; hurl: »

He stopped his bicycle so suddenly that he was catapulted over the handle bars. He had been catapulted to fame by winning the International Tchaikovsky Contest in Moscow (New York Times).

3. British. to aim at or hit with a slingshot.

–v.i.

Figurative. to be catapulted; move suddenly or forcefully: »

The frightened cat catapulted from the chair when the big dog came in. Schoolchildren and their nuns catapulted out of classrooms into the streets (New Yorker).

╂[< Latin catapulta < Greek katapéltēs, probably < kata- down + pállein hurl]