shunt
UK/ʃʌnt/US/ʃʌnt/
shunt verb: to cause to move (suddenly), as by pushing or shoving; to give a (sudden) start to.
Verb
shunt (third-person singular simple present shunts, present participle shunting, simple past and past participle shunted)
- To cause to move (suddenly), as by pushing or shoving; to give a (sudden) start to.
- For we are all shunting—shunting—shunting / We're all shunting in this queer world of ours. / Nations are shunted like to our railway carriages: / As Napoleon shunted la belle France into war; / Princes are shunted into royal marriages; / Kings and Queens are shunted just like a railway car.[1877?], Jacques Geal, “We’re All Shunting”, in John Diprose, compiler, The Railway Song Book, London: Diprose & Bateman, […], →OCLC, page 13, column 1
- The comet was burning blue in the distance, like a sickly torch, when I first sighted him, but he begun to grow bigger and bigger as I crept up on him. […] Thinks I, it won't do to run into him, so I shunted to one side and tore along. By and by I closed up abreast of his tail.1907 December, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “Extract from Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven: Taken from His Own MS.”, in Harper’s Monthly Magazine, volume CXVI, number DCXCI...
- Synonyms:
- shove
- To divert to a less important place, position, or state.
- Here in England it is, thank God! the custom for us to shunt ourselves off the grand trunk railroad of business, in tearing up and down which our lives are mainly passed, into some quiet siding once every year. […] [W]hen July is running into August, and everything is breaking up, you feel that...1862 October, “Q.”, “On Being Shunted”, in London Society. An Illustrated Magazine of Light and Amusing Literature for the Hours of Relaxation, volume II, number IX, London: Office, 49 Fleet Street...
- This important question of the acquisition of Native lands has been treated as a perfect shuttlecock in the hands of the Government. […] So far as we know, it has not even been circulated amongst the Natives, so that it would be a monstrous thing to pass it into law this session. This question will...1893 July 12, John Hall, “House of Representatives. First Readings—Financial Statement.”, in New Zealand. Parliamentary Debates. Fourth Session of the Eleventh Parliament. Legislative Council and...
- To provide with a shunt.
- to shunt a galvanometer
- Routine preoperative shunting of tumor patients is no longer common practice because many patients remain shunt free after tumor removal. Dias and Albright reported a series of 58 patients with posterior fossa tumors and hydrocephalus. Twenty-five patients were shunted preoperatively, 17 had...2008, Richard C. E. Anderson, Hugh J. L. Garton, John R. W. Kestle, “Treatment of Hydrocephalus with Shunts”, in A. Leland Albright, Ian F. Pollack, P. David Adelson, edited by Birgitta Brandenburg...
- To move data in memory to a physical disk.
- A momentary power spike had caused a blip, forcing the backup system to shunt Carella's current work into a safety file. It was standard operating procedure, a decision made by the online computer itself.2010, Don Pendleton, Mike Linaker, “Prologue”, in System Corruption (Don Pendleton’s The Executioner), Toronto, Ont.: Gold Eagle, →ISBN
- To divert electric current by providing an alternative path.
- The method of running an electric motor herein set out, which consists in starting the motor with the two halves of its armature in series with a resistance in a two-pole field, then gradually cutting out the resistance, then including the resistance and shunting one-half the motor, then opening...1895 April 2, Merle J. Wightman, Regulation of Continuous-current Motors, US Patent 542,667, page 2, column 2
- To move a train from one track to another, or to move carriages, etc. from one train to another.
- Porter, run over while shunting a luggage train, in consequence of his getting entangled in shunting-rope.1846, “Report”, in Report of the Officers of the Railway Department to the Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council for Trade: With Appendices I. & II. For the Years 1844–45. […] (House of Commons...
- But despite its plague of tunnels, the run-in on this route is of unusual interest to the locomotive enthusiast: besides the hordes of self-important saddle-tanks shunting in the extensive yards, there was at one time the chance of seeing those slender little North London engines, with their large...1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 704
- To have a minor collision, especially in a motor car.
- The main argument for the use of culpability as a categorizer is that some accidents can be said to be independent of the behaviour of at least one of the drivers, for example, being shunted when having stopped for a red light (in a slow and controlled manner, at least).2017, Anders af Wåhlberg, “Traffic Accident Involvement Taxonomies”, in Driver Behaviour and Accident Research Methodology: Unresolved Problems (Human Factors in Road and Rail Transport), Boca Raton...
- To divert the flow of a body fluid.
- There are times when one has no alternative other than to attempt to shunt the cerebrospinal fluid into the pleural cavity, a potential space, which may occasionally be capable of absorbing the fluid.1987, Anthony J. Raimondi, “Hydrocephalus”, in Pediatric Neurosurgery: Theoretical Principles; Art of Surgical Techniques, New York, N.Y.; Berlin: Springer-Verlag, →DOI, →ISBN, page 474, column 2
- To turn aside or away; to divert.
- To carry on arbitrage between the London stock exchange and provincial stock exchanges.
Noun
shunt (plural shunts)
- An act of moving (suddenly), as due to a push or shove.
- Blindside loosie Jerome Kaino got [Conor] Murray after he'd kicked in the 10th minute, then the halfback hurt a wrist after Brodie Retallick gave him a shunt.2017 June 28, Kevin Norquay, “Lions tour: Warren Gatland says clown cartoon is part of personal campaign against him”, in Stuff.co.nz, archived from the original on 03 Nov 2017
- A connection used as an alternative path between parts of an electrical circuit.
- The sensibility of a galvanometer may be varied in a very simple manner by the use of what is termed a shunt. A shunt is a resistance coil, or coil of fine wire used to divert some definite portion of a current, taking it past a galvanometer instead of through its coils.1873, Fleeming Jenkin, “Galvanometers”, in Electricity and Magnetism, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton and Co. […], §14, page 201
- The shifting of the studs on a projectile from the deep to the shallow sides of the grooves in its discharge from a shunt gun.
- In length, this gun was the same as the French, but weighed 9 cwt. less. It was rifled in six grooves on the shunt plan, in the form in which it has been generally applied to large guns, with the difference that some of the angles of the grooving were rounded off. […] To impede fouling, a slightly...1865 October, “Rifled Guns and Missiles”, in Colburn’s United Service Magazine and Naval and Military Journal, part III, number CCCCXLIII, London: Hurst and Blackett, publishers, successors to Henry...
- The shunt system, of which the 64-pr. is the only example now in the service, has been considered inferior to the Woolwich, because besides being unnecessarily complicated, the grooves which are cut with abrupt sharp angles weaken the gun. […] [I]n the shunt gun, however, in addition to the mere...1870, Charles Orde Browne, “Section II. Muzzle-loading Armstrong, Shunt System.”, in Ammunition. A Descriptive Treatise on the Different Projectiles, Charges, Fuzes, &c., at Present in Use for Land...
- An abnormal passage between body channels.
- Portosystemic shunts can be congenital or acquired with congenital PSS commonly comprising a single communicating vessel between the portal venous circulation and the systemic circulation via the caudal vena cava or azygos vein. Of congenital shunts, 66–75% are extrahepatic. Intrahepatic...2018, Jon[athan David] Wray, “Case 11 Presenting with Mentation Abnormalities”, in Canine Internal Medicine: What’s Your Diagnosis?, Hoboken, N.J.; Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, John...
- A passage between body channels constructed surgically as a bypass; a tube inserted into the body to create such a passage.
- We present an extremely rare case of delayed and combined ventriculoperitoneal shunt blockage, viscus perforation and migration into the urethra manifested by a repeated urinary tract infection. This was discovered six months after the shunt was inserted.2011 October, T. H. Chen et al., “Combined Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt Blockage, Viscus Perforation and Migration into Urethra, Presenting with Repeated Urinary Tract Infection”, in Annals of the...
- A switch on a railway used to move a train from one track to another.
- These improvements consist, firstly, in a novel construction of apparatus to be attached to or applied upon railways, at those parts termed switches, shunts, or moveable rails, which are commonly used for transferring engines, carriages, or trains, from one line of rails to another, as occasion may...1838 December 17, John Hawkshaw, “[Recent Patents.] To John Hawkshaw, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Civil Engineer, for His Invention of Certain Improvements in Mechanism or Apparatus...
- A minor collision between vehicles.
- At the first race in Brazil, I became involved in a four-car shunt. I won't go into too much detail now, except to say that the accident had nothing to do with me. […] Everyone else was avoiding the accident when [Jos] Verstappen lost control on the grass, came right into me – and off we all went....2017, Eddie Irvine, with Maurice Hamilton, “No Big Deal”, in Green Races Red, updated edition, London: CollinsWillow, →ISBN
shunt meaning in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Arabic
shunt in Tamil
- இடை கடத்தி, தடமாற்றம், தடம்மாற்றி, திருப்பி, திருப்புதல், பக்கச்சுற்று
shunt in Malayalam
- ബൈപ്പാസിലേക്ക് മാറ്റുക, തിരിക്കുക, തീവണ്ടിയുടെ പാത മാറ്റുക, തള്ളിനീക്കുക
shunt in Kannada
- ಮೂಲೆಗೊತ್ತು, ಬದಿಗೆ ಸರಿಸು, ನಿರ್ಲಕ್ಷಿಸು, ತಳ್ಳು, ರೈಲ್ವೆಗಾಡಿಗಳನ್ನು ಹಳಿಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ ಬದಲಾಯಿಸು
shunt in Arabic
- to divert to a less important place, position, or state
- حَوَّلَ ḥawwala
More languagesFewer languages
- shunt in Malay
- beralih, berpindah, memiraukan
Examples of shunt in a sentence
- This question will therefore be necessarily shunted—the one question that is admitted to be of supreme importance to the Colony of New Zealand.1893 July 12, John Hall, “House of Representatives. First Readings—Financial Statement.”, in New Zealand. Parliamentary Debates. Fourth...
- Routine preoperative shunting of tumor patients is no longer common practice because many patients remain shunt free after tumor removal.2008, Richard C. E. Anderson, Hugh J. L. Garton, John R. W. Kestle, “Treatment of Hydrocephalus with Shunts”, in A. Leland Albright, Ian F....
- Of congenital shunts, 66–75% are extrahepatic.2018, Jon[athan David] Wray, “Case 11 Presenting with Mentation Abnormalities”, in Canine Internal Medicine: What’s Your Diagnosis?...
- At the first race in Brazil, I became involved in a four-car shunt.2017, Eddie Irvine, with Maurice Hamilton, “No Big Deal”, in Green Races Red, updated edition, London: CollinsWillow, →ISBN:
Synonyms of shunt
Forms of shunt
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | shunts |
| present participle | shunting |
| past participle | shunted |
| past | shunted |
| Noun | |
| plural | shunts |
Origin of shunt
From Middle English schonten, schunten (“to jerk, swerve; to dodge, escape”), either: * possibly a back-formation from Middle English schonen (“to avoid, refuse, hate, fear”), from Old English sċunian, sċyniġan; see shun. Or * an alteration of Middle English *schunden, *schynden, from Old English sċyndan, sċendan (“to hasten, hurry”) (as in āsċyndan (“to remove, take away”), from Proto-West Germanic *skundijan, from Proto-Germanic *skundijaną (“to impel, hasten”). * from unrecorded Old English *sċunettan, a derivative of sċunian (“to shun, avoid”). As regards the noun sense, compare Middle English shunt (“swerve; sudden jerk”), derived from the verb.
Words formed from shunt
Words that rhyme with shunt
Questions about shunt
- What does shunt mean?
- Shunt means to cause to move (suddenly), as by pushing or shoving; to give a (sudden) start to.
- What is shunt in Tamil?
- Shunt in Tamil is இடை கடத்தி, தடமாற்றம், தடம்மாற்றி. See Shunt meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use shunt in a sentence?
- This question will therefore be necessarily shunted—the one question that is admitted to be of supreme importance to the Colony of New Zealand.
- What part of speech is shunt?
- Shunt can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce shunt?
- Shunt is pronounced /ʃʌnt/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of shunt?
- The past tense of shunt is shunted.
Words near shunt in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shunt (page history and authors); shunt (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); shunt (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); shunt (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-shunt.ogg.
Cite this entry: “shunt.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shunt. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.