SHUTTLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does shuttle mean? 

• SHUTTLE (noun)
  The noun SHUTTLE has 3 senses:

1. badminton equipment consisting of a ball of cork or rubber with a crown of feathers

2. public transport that consists of a bus or train or airplane that flies back and forth between two points

3. bobbin that passes the weft thread between the warp threads

  Familiarity information: SHUTTLE used as a noun is uncommon.

• SHUTTLE (verb)
  The verb SHUTTLE has 1 sense:

1. travel back and forth between two points

  Familiarity information: SHUTTLE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHUTTLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Badminton equipment consisting of a ball of cork or rubber with a crown of feathers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

bird; birdie; shuttle; shuttlecock

Hypernyms ("shuttle" is a kind of...):

badminton equipment (equipment for playing the game of badminton)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Public transport that consists of a bus or train or airplane that flies back and forth between two points

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("shuttle" is a kind of...):

public transport (conveyance for passengers or mail or freight)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shuttle"):

shuttle bus (shuttle consisting of a bus that travels between two points)

Derivation:

shuttle (travel back and forth between two points)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Bobbin that passes the weft thread between the warp threads

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("shuttle" is a kind of...):

bobbin; reel; spool (a winder around which thread or tape or film or other flexible materials can be wound)

• SHUTTLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they shuttle    ... he / she / it shuttles   
Past simple: shuttled   
Past participle: shuttled   
-ing form: shuttling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Travel back and forth between two points

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "shuttle" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

shuttle (public transport that consists of a bus or train or airplane that flies back and forth between two points)

 Context examples 

While all of the hnRNPs are present in the nucleus, some seem to shuttle between the nucleus and the cytoplasm.

(Heterogeneous Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein A/B, NCI Thesaurus/LocusLink)

It also decreases blood glucose concentration by shuttling molecules into cells to be used for energy.

(Insulin, NCI Thesaurus)

This gene plays a role in nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of mRNA.

(CASC3 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

APC is a nucleocytoplasmic shuttle protein.

(Adenomatous Polyposis Coli Protein, NCI Thesaurus)

But the greatest curiosity, upon which the fate of the island depends, is a loadstone of a prodigious size, in shape resembling a weaver’s shuttle.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The poem swung in majestic rhythm to the cool tumult of interstellar conflict, to the onset of starry hosts, to the impact of cold suns and the flaming up of nebulae in the darkened void; and through it all, unceasing and faint, like a silver shuttle, ran the frail, piping voice of man, a querulous chirp amid the screaming of planets and the crash of systems.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)