Shunt

Quick meaning: Shunt is a verb meaning (transitive) To cause to move (suddenly), as by pushing or shoving; to give a (sudden) start to.

Meaning

(transitive) To cause to move (suddenly), as by pushing or shoving; to give a (sudden) start to.

More Meanings

1. (transitive) To divert to a less important place, position, or state.
2. (transitive) To provide with a shunt.
3. (transitive, computing) To move data in memory to a physical disk.
4. (transitive, electricity) To divert electric current by providing an alternative path.
5. (transitive, rail transport) To move a train from one track to another, or to move carriages, etc. from one train to another.
6. (transitive, chiefly road transport, informal, British) To have a minor collision, especially in a motor car.
7. (transitive, surgery) To divert the flow of a body fluid.

Example Sentences

to shunt a galvanometer

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.

Even as the new king appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in a downpour to view a weather-attenuated flyby, much of the press attention focused on Harry’s absence. (Charles’s heir, Prince William, was shunted off to the side with his family.)

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.

Word Forms

• shunts
• shunting
• shunted

Synonyms for shunt

Depending on context, synonyms include shove.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include by-pass, diversion, bypass, side-by-side, referral, parallel.

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