shoot 'em up
See also: shoot-'em-up and shoot-em-up
English
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Audio (AU): (file)
Noun
shoot ’em up (plural shoot 'em ups)
- (idiomatic, film, television, literature, video games) A short story, novel, television show, film, computer game, or other narrative which depicts considerable gunplay.
- My wife won't watch this movie; it's a shoot ’em up.
- 1983, Popular Mechanics (volume 160, number 2, August 1983, page 88)
- The arcaders have it easy. All they need to do is drop a quarter into a machine to find out how good the latest shoot 'em up game really is. But for the home computer owner, it's another story.
- 1989, Duncan Macdonald, R-Type (video game review) in Your Sinclair issue 37, January 1989
- An unmissable shoot 'em up.
Synonyms
- (video game genre): shmup