potshot: [19] A potshot was originally a shot taken at an animal or bird simply in order to kill it for food – in order to get it into the ‘pot’, in other words – rather than in accordance with the strict code and precise techniques of shooting as a ‘sport’. Indeed to begin with it was distinctly a contemptuous term among the hunting and shooting fraternity. But gradually it broadened out in meaning to any ‘casually aimed shot’.
potshot (n.)
also pot-shot, 1836, "shot taken at animal simply to 'get it in the pot,' not for sport or marksmanship;" from pot (n.1) + shot (n.). Extended sense of "opportunistic criticism" first recorded 1926. Compare pot-hunter "one who shoots whatever he finds; one who kills for food not for sport."
实用例句
1. Somebody took a potshot at him as he drove past.
他开车通过的时候，有人向他乱开了一枪。来自《权威词典》
2. I took a potshot at the rabbit, but missed.
我向兔子胡乱打了一枪, 但是没有射中.来自互联网
3. Two influential economists take a potshot at financial policymakers. Why don't their criticisms add up?
