empty the clip
English
editVerb
editempty the clip (third-person singular simple present empties the clip, present participle emptying the clip, simple past and past participle emptied the clip)
- (chiefly US, literal) To fire all of the cartridges in the magazine of an automatic or semi-automatic firearm.
- 2015 November 10, Zachary Fagenson, “Florida 'Facebook Killer' goes on trial for wife's murder”, in Reuters[1], retrieved April 20, 2021:
- Prosecutors say Medina fired eight shots, emptying the clip on his weapon.
- (chiefly US, idiomatic, sports, by extension) To compete with great vigor, especially by making numerous scoring attempts.
- 2016 May 2, Blake Murphy, “They did it”, in Raptors Republic[2], retrieved April 20, 2021:
- DeRozan emptied the clip. The fans at the ACC emptied theirs, too. Every person in that arena […] was ready to leave it all on the floor.
- 2017 August 23, Arden Zwelling, “Stroman battles feel for pitches in Blue Jays-Rays slugfest”, in Sportsnet[3], retrieved April 20, 2021:
- That completed an unraveling of an early Blue Jays lead that stood at five runs after the second inning as Toronto emptied the clip on Tampa Bay starter Austin Pruitt.
- 2021 March 29, Ben Davila, “Dallas Stars: Are we kidding ourselves about their chances?”, in Fansided[4], retrieved April 20, 2021:
- The Stars emptied the clip and were the better team in last two periods.
- (chiefly US, idiomatic, by extension) To speak vehemently, especially in an outraged, insulting, or threatening manner.
- 2017 April 17, Dane Mizutani, “Bruce Boudreau explodes, proves goalie Jake Allen has gotten to Wild”, in Twin Cities Pioneer Press[5], retrieved April 20, 2021:
- When prodded about his team's struggles […] Boudreau completely emptied the clip before storming out of his postgame press conference.