I. ˈshəd. ə l, -ət ə l noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English schutylle, schetylle, shittle, probably from Old English scytel, scytels bar, bolt; akin to Old Norse skutill bar, bolt, Danish skyttel shuttle, Old English scēotan to shoot — more at shoot
1.
a. : any of various types of slender pointed wooden devices used in weaving for passing or shooting the thread of the woof between the threads of the warp from one side of the cloth to the other
b. : a spindle-shaped device holding the thread that one manipulates in tatting, knotting, or netting
c.
(1) : any of various sliding thread holders for the lower thread of a sewing machine that carry the lower thread through a loop of the upper thread to make a stitch
(2) : a sewing-machine bobbin
2. : shuttlecock
3. : a sliding shutter (as for a sluiceway)
4. dialect chiefly Britain : a small drawer (as for odds and ends) ; sometimes : a drawer for money
5.
[ shuttle (III) ]
a. : a going back and forth over a specified route or path at regular intervals ; especially : such a plying by any of various vehicles (as planes, automobiles, trains, ships)
in addition to planes that fly direct to Bermuda and return in a shuttle , some flights continue to England — Skyways
kept up a round-the-clock shuttle delivering a truckload of coral every 40 seconds — Time
b. : an established or specified route used in a shuttle
carted paratroopers across the short shuttle from Denmark to Norway — Richard Thruelsen & Elliott Arnold
c. : a vehicle used in a shuttle
took the shuttle across the city
6. : claw 4f
II. ˈshə]d. ə l, ˈshu̇], ]t ə l adjective
Etymology: Middle English schyttyl, from schutylle, schetylle, shittle, n.
chiefly dialect : wavering, unsettled
III. ˈshəd. ə l, -ət ə l verb
( shuttled ; shuttled ; shuttling -d. ə liŋ, -t( ə )liŋ\ ; shuttles )
Etymology: shuttle (I)
transitive verb
1. : to cause to move around or back and forth frequently
was shuttled from one unsympathetic relative to another — Ruth & Edward Brecher
reserves to be shuttled between branches to meet varying … needs — Investor's Reader
2. : to move or transport in, by, or as if by a shuttle
crews were to be shuttled from their ships to the gun-carrying ships before landing — Coast Artillery Journal
dual drive tractors shuttle eight 35-foot insulated trailers between the eastern and western terminals — Motor Transportation in the West
keeps shuttling substitutes in and out with instructions to run until they tire, then signal for relief — Time
intransitive verb
1. : to move or travel around or back and forth frequently
continued feverishly to shuttle between sidewalk and stairs — H.J.Kaplan
tangled with red tape, they have shuttled from bureau to bureau — Newsweek
the book shuttles from one locale to another — Time
2. : to move or travel in, by, or as if by a shuttle
every type of landing craft shuttling continuously between the tumultuous beaches and the scores of cargo vessels — E.L.Jones
bombed it and shuttled to Africa — Tex McCrary & D.E.Scherman
shuttled over to Milwaukee — L.E.Arndt
has shuttled back and forth across the years — Pamela Taylor
IV. noun
: space shuttle herein