English
shothole
From shot + hole.
Proto-Germanic *hulaz ‘hollow’
Proto-Germanic *hulą ‘hollow space’
Proto-West Germanic *hol ‘hollow space, cavity’
Old English hol ‘hole, hollow place’
Middle English hole
English hole
Today it means
noun A hole, very deep but only a few inches wide, which is used to drop explosives beneath the Earth's surface to ease petroleum extraction.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “shothole”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / shothole