Tequila Liquor cocktail glass cup with holder __holder with six glasses

A shot glass is a glass originally designed to hold or measure spirits or liquor, which is either imbibed straight from the glass ("a shot") or poured into a cocktail ("a drink"). An alcoholic beverage served in a shot glass and typically consumed quickly, in one gulp, may also be known as a "shooter".
Shot glasses decorated with a wide variety of toasts, advertisements, humorous pictures, or other decorations and words are popular souvenirs and collectibles, especially as merchandise of a brewery.
In early America when we still hunted our meals regularly, a small glass would be left on dinner tables at each table setting in which guests could place the lead shot or buckshot that may still be in their meals, eventually leading to the coining of the term "shot glass."
There have been many stories circulated on how the shot glass earned its name. The fact is, nobody is certain about the exact origins of the American shot glass, but there have been many different speculations, all quite fascinating:
One such speculation takes place in the American Old West, where a bullet for a cowboy’s six-gun cost 12 cents, and so did a glass of whiskey. If the cowboy was short on cash he would give the bartender a bullet from his gun in exchange for a glass of whiskey, and this became known as a “shot” or “shot glass” of whiskey.