Meaning

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

Definitions by Sense

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

Example Sentences

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.

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.

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 your business for the season—be it in commerce, law, or literature—is achieved, and that the time for your being temporarily shunted has arrived.

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 therefore be necessarily shunted—the one question that is admitted to be of supreme importance to the Colony of New Zealand. Then, the question of the Native Land Courts is another of those which have been shunted.

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.)

Word Forms

• shunts
• shunting
• shunted

Synonyms for shunt

Related Words

When Should You Use Shunt?

Use shunt when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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