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catapult

UK/ˈkæ.tə.pʌlt/US/ˈkæ.tə.pʌlt/
nounB2+4 meaningsOccasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,925 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: catapulted, catapults, catapulting

A catapult is a forked stick with a strip of elastic stretched between the prongs, used for firing small stones. You pull the pouch back to your cheek, aim at a tin can on a fence post, and let go.

In American English that toy is a slingshot; catapult is the British word for it. The bigger catapult is a machine: the wooden arm on a frame that hurled rocks at castle walls, and the steam catapult that throws jets off the deck of an aircraft carrier. Catapult is a verb too, and the verb does most of its work on people and careers — one film catapulted her to fame, the crash catapulted him through the windscreen. That verb means thrown fast and far by a force outside you, so nothing catapults gently. Both syllables of the ending are heard: CAT-a-pult.

Definitions of catapult

  1. 1nouncatapultA Y-shaped stick with elastic stretched between its prongs, used for shooting small stones.B2+~2%

    “He knocked the can off the wall with his catapult.”

    synonyms: slingshot

  2. 2nounmachineA machine that hurls something a long way, from the medieval siege engine to the device that launches aircraft from a ship.B2~84%

    “The soldiers dragged a catapult up to the city walls.”

  3. 3verbthrowTo throw, or be thrown, suddenly and violently through the air.B2~2%

    “The impact catapulted the driver out of his seat.”

  4. 4verbsendTo send someone or something suddenly into a new position or condition.C1~12%

    “A single song catapulted the band to international fame.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 8 sentences found in the wild and placed 8 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.

catapult is a device for throwing things.

Also accepted in games: slingshot

Where it comes from

Catapult reached English through Middle French catapulte and Latin catapulta, and behind those sits Ancient Greek katapeltes. The Greek word joins kata, downwards or against, with pallo, to poise or sway a missile before it is thrown. So the name is a picture of the arm swaying back before it sends its stone down on whatever is in the way.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *pel- (beat)

  2. Ancient Greek

    καταπέλτης

  3. Latin

    catapulta

  4. Middle French

    catapulte

  5. English, today

    catapult

Built from

  • κατά · Ancient Greek — downwards, into, against
  • πάλλω · Ancient Greek — to poise or sway a missile before it is thrown

From Middle French catapulte, from Latin catapulta, from Ancient Greek καταπέλτης, from κατά (“downwards, into, against”) + πάλλω (“to poise or sway a missile before it is thrown”). a doublet of catapulta.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove, Games & Toys, Hitting & Pushing

First appears in chapter 27 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

catapult in the wild

  • During wars in the ancient times, the catapult was usually known to be the strongest heavy weaponry.

    Catapult

  • CAM ship is an acronym for catapult aircraft merchant ship.

    CAM ship

  • The ships carried a rocket-propelled catapult to launch a Hawker Hurricane, dubbed a "Hurricat" or "Catafighter" to attack Luftwaffe aircraft.

    CAM ship

  • Fighter catapult ships (FCS) also known as Catapult Armed Ships were an attempt by the Royal Navy to provide air cover at sea.

    Fighter catapult ship

  • The aircraft can be launched by hand or with a bungee catapult.

    EMT Aladin

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.