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# catapult

«catapult» in Mova's school dictionary: **an old war machine that throws heavy stones or objects a…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a catapult, catapults); verb (catapult, catapults, catapulted, catapulting)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A catapult is an old war machine that throws heavy stones or objects a long way. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catapult/#m1)

2) (UK) A catapult is a Y-shaped stick with a rubber band used to shoot small stones; in the USA it is called a slingshot. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catapult/#m2)

3) To catapult means to throw or launch something hard and fast. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catapult/#m3)

4) To be catapulted into something means to be moved suddenly into a new situation, as in «catapulted to fame». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catapult/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In history lessons (sieges and castles), in DT and science (making catapults to test forces and energy), in stories; phrases: catapult into, catapulted to fame.

### examples

- The army used a catapult to throw stones at the castle walls. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catapult/#x1)
- We built a lolly-stick catapult in science. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catapult/#x2)
- He fired a pea from his catapult. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catapult/#x3)
- The crash catapulted him out of his seat. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catapult/#x4)
- The song catapulted the band to fame. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catapult/#x5)
- We measured how far the catapult could throw a marshmallow. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catapult/#x6)

### note

Countable. Past: catapulted. «Catapult» (UK) = «slingshot» (US). Safety: never aim a catapult at people or animals.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «catapult» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catapult/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.