DCHP-2

shoot ((n.)) DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

• 1 † n.

  a falls or rapids.

  See also: chute (def. 1)  rapid(s)  riffle ((n.)) (def. 1a)  

  • 1772  (1792)  I went up the river, and visited all the traps; I brought the upper-most one down, and tailed it above the shoot.
  • 1792  (1934)  The head of the Island all a rapid with three heavy shoots which cannot be shot in going down but must carry 1/4 mile.
  • 1836  (1926)  Formerly, we used to unload at McConnell's, drag the scow up the shoot, load again. . . .
  • 1860  By dint of a good deal of enquiry I ascertained that . . . "Bear-shoot" was so named from a bear crossing the river in sight of the crew at another "shoot" below.

• 2 n. — Lumbering, Hist.

  an artificial sluiceway down which logs or cribs may be directed to avoid rapids, falls, or other obstructions in a river.

  See also: slide (def. 1a)  

  • 1868  More than 20,000,000 cubic feet of timber come down the "shoots" of the Ottawa in this manner each year.