What Does The Term 'Shot My Wad' Mean?

Question

What Does The Term 'Shot My Wad' Mean?

3 Answers

Answer Question

Answer 1

It
comes from the old days of musket guns, where a wad (strips of cloth)
was packed down in the barrel to create a seal between the gunpowder
and the bullet (increasing the internal pressure when the gunpowder
fired and speeding the bullet). When soldiers ran out of bullets, they
would resort to "shooting their wad". If you remember, the wad of a
blank pistol round is what killed Bruce Lee's son during the filming of
a movie.

Answer 2

It is also worth pointing out that it has a more vulgar, sexual meaning in modern usage. In situations where you might be misunderstood, it's probably better to avoid the phrase altogether. Which is a shame, because it has such a neat history.

Answer 3

The term 'shot my wad' is not the part of any standard dictionary but recently it is heard is some speeches. And rightly so, because any particular language can survive and sustain itself only when there are a lot of changes that happen in it that enable it to be compatible in the changing times.

The meaning of any term is based on its context and for this term one meaning can certainly be figured out. 'Shot' is a word that is used to convey the idea of hitting something with a lot of force and usually with something pointed. 'My' is an obvious term for something that belongs to somebody and 'wad' is a word that conveys the idea of a thick pile of pieces of paper. So probably the meaning that this term conveys is that of attacking somebody or some institution by writing great amount of content against it.