long shot

Noun

long shot (plural long shots)

1. A shot fired at a distant target.
   • "It is of course a most foolish thing twice to take a long shot in a capercailzie wood, as you know," said the captain, appealing to me; "but the last time I had no choice, because I heard that villainous Andreas stalking the bird at the same time."1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 74
2. (idiomatic) Something unlikely; something that has little chance of happening or working; long odds.
   • We can try your plan, but it's a long shot and it probably won't work.
   • A long shot, it may be, at immortality, but longer ones have hit; or Guido Fawkes, William Tell, and Samuel Pepys were forgotten now.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries
3. A master shot, the primary wide shot of a scene into which the closeups will be edited later.
4. Synonym of long take; a single, continuous shot that lasts for an unusually long duration without any cuts.

   Synonyms:

   continuous take, continuous shot, single shot, oner, long take