Wiktionary
n. 1 (&lit A shot fired as a warning. English) 2 (context figuratively by extension English) An action intended to act as a warning.
Wikipedia
Warning Shot is a 1967 film about a police sergeant who kills a man while on a stakeout, then must prove that it was self-defense. It is based on the novel 711 - Officer Needs Help by Whit Masterson.
David Janssen stars as the accused officer, with supporting performances from Ed Begley, Keenan Wynn, Joan Collins, Stefanie Powers, Sam Wanamaker, George Grizzard, Carroll O'Connor, Steve Allen, Eleanor Parker, Walter Pidgeon, George Sanders and Lillian Gish.
Baseball stars Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale signed to appear in this movie during their 1966 holdout, but never made it onto the screen when both agreed to contracts with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Filming took place between the third and fourth seasons of Janssen's television series The Fugitive. The script was written by Mann Rubin, who had authored the Fugitive episode "A Taste of Tomorrow", while the film was directed by Buzz Kulik with a jazz score by Jerry Goldsmith. It was released by Paramount Pictures.
Usage examples of "warning shot".
It was harder to deliver a warning shot from behind but easier to blow someone away .
It was harder to deliver a warning shot from behind but easier to blow someone away .
Quickly he recovered his senses and fired a warning shot from his LeMat, but the Indians ignored him, concentrating their attention on the forward half of the column.
A handspan above his forehead, centered between his eyes-it was a classic warning shot.
The glinting spears and waving head-dresses of the Amadoda strengthened this impression and Ned gave the order to fire a warning shot across their bows.
That part of the release wouldn't so much be a warning shot across the bow as one aimed right at the bridge, Kealty thought.
But Kazakov had ordered the An- 12 pilots to continue, and the Americans had eventually backed off without even firing a warning shot.