Word.ws English Dictionary

shot the lights out

shot the lights out is the simple past and past participle of shoot the lights out.

Meaning of shoot the lights out

Verb

shoot the lights out (third-person singular simple present shoots the lights out, present participle shooting the lights out, simple past and past participle shot the lights out)

  1. (slang) To perform very well; to exceed expectations.
    • While the Scots weren't shooting the lights out in attack, they also allowed Belarus to be comfortable for large parts of the game. The fact they had 10 shots more than Scotland is a huge cause for concern.2025 October 12, Scott Mullen, “Clarke angered by Scotland on historic night”, in BBC Sport

Questions about shot the lights out

What is shot the lights out the simple past and past participle of?
Shot the lights out is the simple past and past participle of shoot the lights out.

Words near shot the lights out in the dictionary

  1. shot the bull
  2. shot the cat
  3. shot the five
  4. shot the gold
  5. shot the lens
  6. shot the lights out
  7. shot the messenger
  8. shot the messenger boy
  9. shot the moon
  10. shot the shit
  11. shot through

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shot the lights out (page history and authors); shoot the lights out (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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