▪ I. shuttle, n.1
(ˈʃʌt(ə)l)
Forms: 1 sciutil, scytel, 4–9 (now dial.) shittle, 5 shotil, shetil, schytle, schetyl(le, s(c)hutylle, 6 shetyll, shuttyll, shyttel(l, shittell, shettle, shoottle, 7 shutle, shuttel, 6– shuttle.
[OE. scytel ? masc.:—prehistoric *skutil f. Teut. root *skut-: see shoot v. Cf. ON. skutill harpoon; also Sw., Da. skyttel (of obscure history) and Da. skytte, Norw. skyt, skj{obar}t = sense 2 below.]
† 1. OE. A dart, missile, arrow. Obs.
| c 875 Erfurt Gloss. 1177 Jaculum, sciutil. c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Thorpe) lxiii. 7 Syndon hyre wita scytelum cilda æᵹhwæs onlicost. |
2. a. An instrument used in weaving for passing the thread of the weft to and fro from one edge of the cloth to the other between the threads of the warp.
fly shuttle (see
fly n.2 8).
The normal form of the shuttle resembles that of a boat, whence its name in various langs. (L.
navicula, F.
navette, G.
weberschiff). Along the middle is an axis or ‘spindle’, on which revolves the ‘quill’ or ‘bobbin’, a cylinder carrying the thread of the weft.
| 1338 in Dugdale Monasticon (1819) II. 585/2 Item pro weblomes emptis xxs... Item pro iiij shittles pro eodem opere ijs vj{supd}. c 1400 York Memorandum Bk. (Surtees) I. 85 Cum instrumento dicti artificii vocato shotil. 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 728/15 Hec navecula, schetylle. 1483 Cath. Angl. 338/2 A Schutylle (v.r. shvtylle), nauicula, panus. 1510 Stanbridge Vocabula (W. de W.) C j b, Pecten, the shuttyll. 1570 Levins Manip. 195/40 A shuttle, radius. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist., Evagrius iv. vii. (1585) 473 A weauers shittell. 1585 Wither ABC for Laymen 131 The sliding to and fro of the shettle in weauing. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 736 The Fishers Boats are made like to a Weauers Shutle. 1676 Hobbes Iliad xxii. 444 She trembling stood, and let her Shittle fall. 1714 Gay Sheph. Wk. Prol. 71 Ye Weavers, all your Shuttles throw. 1831 G. R. Porter Silk Manuf. 221 The shuttle is formed from a piece of boxwood. 1908 [Miss E. Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 84 John's loom and shuttle could be heard. |
b. fig. and in similative use.
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. v. i. 25, I fear not Goliah with a Weauers beame, because I know also, life is a Shuttle. 1742 Young Nt. Th. iv. 809 How swift the shuttle flies, that weaves thy shroud. 1844 Emerson Lect., Young Amer. Wks. (Bohn) II. 293 The locomotive and the steamboat like enormous shuttles shoot every day across the thousand various threads of national descent. 1896 Kipling Seven Seas 4 Swift shuttles of an Empire's loom that weave us, main to main. 1896 A. Austin England's Darling ii. iv, When War's loud shuttle shall have woven peace. |
3. transf. a. A thread-carrying device in the form of a weaver's shuttle, used for knotting, tatting and embroidery.
| 1767 Mrs. Delany Lett. 4 Jan., Ser. ii. (1862) I. 91 Mrs. Jeffreys has bought me a very elegant shuttle for two guineas. ? 1770 Mrs. Ravaud Let. to Mrs. Delany 10 Nov. ibid. 309, I want to know if the inclosed knotting is what you would have it... Its merit..is entirely owing to the instrument with which it is fabricated, the nonpareille shuttle of singular service. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 476 [Recent improvements in Tatting.] The use of a second thread or Shuttle, which enables straight lines and scallops to be worked, as well as the original ovals. |
b. A reciprocating thread-holder in a sewing-machine, which carries the lower thread through the loop of the upper one to make a lock-stitch.
| 1846 in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Sewing (1871) 10 [The] application of a shuttle, in combination with a needle. 1860 Ure's Dict. Arts III. 647 A small shuttle, which has a horizontal motion beneath the cloth, is now caused to pass through this loop, carrying with it its own thread. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2116/2 The [Singer sewing-] machine makes a lock-stitch by means of a straight eye-pointed needle and a longitudinally reciprocating shuttle. |
c. In a telephone (see
quot.).
| 1879 Prescott Sp. Telephone 388 One of its coils is connected..to a V-shaped piece of metal, termed the shuttle, which, in its normal position, rests with one end against an adjustable screw. |
d. A curved type-bar (in some typewriters) guided into position by a race.
4. A shuttlecock. Also the game. Now only in
Badminton.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 447/1 Schytle, chyldys game, sagitella. a 1591 H. Smith Serm. (1622) 252 Or like unto a Shittle, which flittereth from the hand of a child. 1895 Official Laws Badminton 11. |
† 5. = radius n. 1 c.
Obs. rare—1.
Perh. only a mistranslation of L.
radius, one sense of which is ‘weaver's shuttle’.
| 1662 Comenius' Janua Ling. Triling. 48 One arm bone; two of the elbow, (the ell and shuttle). |
6. † a. A trochoid shell (see
quot. 1750).
Obs. b. In full
weaver's shuttle, a shuttle-shell,
esp. Radius volva; also, the shell of this gastropod.
| 1750 Pococke Trav. (Camden) 46 Trochi entrochi... The trochi are many of them like shuttles..some are an oblong oval, which they call shuttles: the country people call them fairy stones. 1815 Burrow Elem. Conchol. 199 Bulla Volva. Weaver's Shuttle. B. Birostris. Bastard Weaver's Shuttle. B. Gibbosa. Short gibbous Shuttle; the Gondola. 1861 P. P. Carpenter in Rep. Smithsonian Instit. 1860, 195 The Weaver's Shuttle (Radius volva). Ibid. 196 The creature folds its foot round the Gorgonias on which it lives, carrying its shuttle gracefully over its head. |
7. A book name for certain species of moths.
| 1832 J. Rennie Butterfl. & Moths 51 The Shuttle (Agrotis radia, Curtis)... Probably a variety of A. Radiola... The small Shuttle (A. Radiola, Stephens) appears in June. |
8. a. A shuttle-train (see 9 b).
| 1895 in Funk's Stand. Dict. |
b. A shuttle service of aircraft;
esp. one operated by an airline for which reservation of seats is not a requirement; an aircraft flying on such a service.
| 1942 [see shuttle route, sense 9 a below]. 1944, 1961 [see shuttle service, sense 9 b below]. 1964 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 9 Apr. (1970) 104, I could have caught a much later plane if I could only have ridden the shuttle. 1971 R. Thomas Backup Men x. 84, I got in line for the Eastern shuttle... It's rumored that if Eastern doesn't have a seat for you on its regular shuttle to New York, it will roll out a special plane just for you. 1973 Daily Tel. 11 Sept. 6/4 British Caledonian is to extend its low fare ‘Moonjet Service’—Britain's first no-reservation walk-on, walk-off shuttle—to Belfast. 1977 Time 10 Oct. 4/1 Freddie Laker's bargain-basement transatlantic shuttle, the no-frills, no-reservations Skytrain, was finally aloft, carrying passengers between London and New York at the rock-bottom round-trip fare of $236. 1978 R. Ludlum Holcroft Covenant xiii. 153 The shuttles to Paris were frequent, the customs procedures lax. |
c. More fully,
space shuttle. A space rocket with wings enabling it to land like an aircraft and be used repeatedly.
Quot. 1960 is fictional.
| 1960 ‘J. Wyndham’ in New Worlds Nov. 41 The acceleration in that shuttle would spread you all over the floor. 1969 New Scientist 5 June 513/2 NASA has announced the formation of task groups to look into..a re-usable low-cost ‘Space Shuttle’ to relay men and materials to and from the [space] station... The space shuttle.. would be fired off vertically, shed its fuel tanks and, upon return, land horizontally at an airport. Ibid. 2 Oct. 7/1 Another shuttle plying on a regular basis between Cape Kennedy and this large space laboratory. 1972 National Observer (U.S.) 27 May 6/3 The shuttle's primary mission is to carry satellites into earth orbit and release them, at a cost below that of the expendable rockets now used to launch satellites. 1981 Daily Tel. 15 Apr. 1 The American space shuttle landed on a dry lake bed in California's Mojave Desert yesterday to complete the maiden flight of the first re-usable rocketship. |
d. A series of journeys for the purpose of shuttle diplomacy (see sense 9 b below).
| 1975 Daily Tel. 29 Aug. 24/3 (heading) Raid as peace shuttle nears end. Ibid., Dr. Kissinger completed the last legs of his Middle East shuttle yesterday. 1977 Time 17 Jan. 30 It was a diplomatic shuttle, but not exactly in the Kissinger mode. Ibid., Thus [Ivor] Richard's shuttle has been dubbed by some officials and journalists in southern Africa a safari of salvation. |
9. attrib. and
Comb. a. Obvious combs. (Senses 2 and 3) as
shuttle-driver,
shuttle-maker,
shuttle-quill,
shuttle-winder; (sense 6) as
shuttle-tribe; (sense 8)
shuttle bus,
shuttle flight,
shuttle plane,
shuttle raid,
shuttle rocket,
shuttle route,
shuttle ship; also
shuttle-shaped adj.,
shuttlewise adv.| 1951 Sun (Baltimore) 18 May 3/1 The cars—some are called ‘*shuttle busses’ because they operate from the West (executive offices) Wing to the East Wing [of the White House]—carry messengers too. 1972 Times 8 June 7/2 Traffic jams..that officials hoped would be averted by the bicycles and shuttle buses. 1979 United States 1980/81 (Penguin Travel Guides) 259 During the summer, a shuttlebus runs from the lakefront to the courthouse. |
| 1801 Encycl. Brit. Suppl. II. 796/1 From its lower end there go two small cords to the *shuttle drivers. |
| 1944 News (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) 25 June 1/3 Three crewmen also were lost as a result of the attack on the fields, apparently those used by Italian based and Britain-based bombers in the *shuttle flights over Axis targets. 1961 N.Y. Times 10 May 90/5 The shuttle flights between the two pairs of cities carried 6,147 passengers in their first week... Passengers arriving by bus, cab or car would be able to step out at the terminal door within 150 feet of the shuttle planes. 1977 New Yorker 19 Sept. 40/1 She had to drive home alone, while he took a shuttle flight in the opposite direction. |
| 1412 in Riley Mem. Lond. (1868) 584 [William Blakeney] *shetil⁓maker. |
| 1944 Britannica Bk. Year 770/1 Shuttle, combining form. Involving vehicles, especially aircraft, making repeated trips between fixed points, as..‘shuttle raid’, ‘*shuttle plane’. 1961 [see shuttle flight above]. 1976 J. Crosby Nightfall xii. 68 [He] left for the shuttle plane to New York. |
| 1661 Petty in Birch Hist. Roy. Soc. (1756) I. 59 To which purpose there is somewhat considerable in the winding the yarn upon these *shuttle-quills. |
| 1943 Time 18 Oct. 85/1 The..pilot flew on his first mission eight weeks ago, joined the first *shuttle raid on Germany, flew safely to Africa, [etc.]. 1953 J. N. Leonard Flight into Space 87 They say that von Braun's great *shuttle rockets—to say nothing of his space station—would surely fail. |
| 1942 R.A.F. Jrnl. 30 May 22 The danger zone, which is the *shuttle route of the German Focke-Wulf Condors. |
| 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) II. 224 The eyes are lodged in a *shuttle⁓shaped band of black. 1869 E. Newman Brit. Moths 317 The Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta). |
| 1959 Amazing Stories June 12/1 Hubbard visited the spaceport..and watched the *shuttle-ships come and go. |
| 1861 P. P. Carpenter in Rep. Smithsonian Instit. 1860, 196 None of the Cowry or *Shuttle tribe have any operculum. |
| a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. III. 2171/2 *Shuttle-winder, a device for winding a shuttle, such as the round shuttle of the Wheeler and Wilson sewing-machine, or a tatting-shuttle. |
| 1879 Howells Lady of Aroostook iii. 38 The ferryboats thrust *shuttlewise back and forth between either shore made a refreshing sound. |
b. Special comb.:
† shuttle armature Electr., an armature having a single coil wound upon an elongated iron former shaped like a shuttle (
obs.);
shuttle-bearer, the lay or batten of a loom;
shuttle bombing, bombing carried out by planes taking off from one base and landing at another; so
shuttle bomber;
shuttle-bone,
† (
a) each of the bones of the forearm; (
b) the navicular bone in the foot of a horse;
shuttle-box,
† (
a) the cavity in the side of a shuttle to hold the spindle (
obs.); (
b) ‘a tray or case at the end of the shuttle-race to receive the shuttle’ (Knight
Dict. Mech. 1875);
shuttle car, a vehicle for making frequent short journeys,
spec. one for the underground haulage of coal;
shuttle-carrier, the arm or other device which reciprocates the shuttle in a sewing-machine;
shuttle-crab, a paddle-crab,
Callinectes hastatus (
Cent. Dict. 1891);
shuttle diplomacy, diplomatic activity involving a series of journeys to and fro,
esp. by a mediator travelling between disputing parties; hence
shuttle diplomat;
shuttle-kissing (see
quot.);
† shuttle-prick, the spindle of a shuttle;
shuttle-race, the ledge or track along which the shuttle passes;
shuttle service, a service of shuttle-trains; more widely, any transport service in which vehicles or aircraft travel to and fro between fixed points at frequent intervals;
shuttle-shell, a gastropod of the genus
Radius;
† shuttle-spire, ?
= shuttle-prick;
shuttle-train, a train running a short distance to and fro, as on a short branch line;
† shuttle-trough = shuttle-box (
a);
† shuttle-wound armature Electr. = shuttle armature above (
obs.).
| 1890 Slingo & Brooker Electr. Engin. viii. 241 That the design of the *shuttle armature is faulty may easily be proved, for, after being rotated for a little time, the iron shuttle or core gets quite warm. 1924 S. R. Roget Dict. Elect. Terms 226/2 Shuttle armature, a simple form of armature now rarely used, except in very small machines, with a single coil connected to a two-part commutator and lying in the two broad slots in an elongated core built up of stampings in the shape of an H with rounded sides. Also called Siemens ‘H’ armature. |
| 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 350 Exercising their arms and shoulders..by resting their hands on the lay or *shuttle⁓bearer. |
| 1944 Yank 28 July 7 They are not *shuttle bombers, and they did not fly from Italy to Russia intentionally. 1944 Newsweek 10 Jan. 27 Last summer the RAF and the Eighth both tried *shuttle bombing. 1954 Times 10 Aug. 4/1 The city may be important for another reason—as one end of a shuttle-bombing route similar to those which worked so effectively in Europe. |
| 1688 Holme Armoury ii. xvii. 417/2 The Cubitus..doth consist of two Bones; the *Shuttle Bones. 1832 Percivall Anat. Horse 60 The Navicular or Shuttle Bone (Os Naviculare). 1688 *Shuttle box [see shuttle trough below]. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 464/1 (Weaving), A ledge..which forms the ‘shuttle race’ for carrying the shuttle in ‘picking’ from and to the shuttle boxes at each end of the lay. |
| 1905 Calkins & Holden Mod. Advertising v. 89 They also have many *shuttle cars, or [street]cars that make short runs. 1956 Atkinson & White in D. L. Linton Sheffield 276 The shuttle cars transport the ore to the main-road conveyors which discharge the ironstone at the surface into wagons. 1979 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVII. 89/2 Rubber tyred shuttle cars can be used from the continuous miner to the main transport system if the floor is hard enough. |
| 1860 Ure's Dict. Arts III. 649 (Sewing-machine), At the commencement of the return of the shuttle, an inclined piece upon the *shuttle carrier bears against a lateral stud upon one end of a short rocking or oscillatory shaft. |
| 1974 Between Lines (Newtown, Pa.) 15 Feb. 2/3 So beware of an over-celebration of Kissinger's *shuttle diplomacy, heroic as it's been. 1976 Birmingham Post 16 Dec. 2/5 Mr. Richard plans a round of ‘shuttle diplomacy’ in Southern Africa seeking support for more direct British involvement in the decolonisation of Rhodesia. 1979 H. Kissinger White House Years p. xxi, The October 1973 Middle East war and the ‘shuttle diplomacy’ that followed. |
| 1977 Time 13 June 80 Or consider Henry Kissinger. Understandably, Citizen K's style has changed perceptibly from that of the *shuttle diplomat. |
| 1908 Bath Daily Chron. 22 Apr. 1/7 The practice known as ‘*shuttle-kissing’—sucking the weft through the eye of the Shuttle. 1688 *Shuttle prick [see shuttle trough below]. |
| 1831 G. R. Porter Silk Manuf. 216 A shelf, called the *shuttle-race, is formed by making the bottom bar broader than the side rails. 1868 Morris Earthly Par. i. ii. 378 (Cupid & Psyche), As I drove The ivory shuttle through the shuttle-race. 1871 Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Sewing 14 Sewing by means of a vibrating needle and a shuttle travelling in a circular shuttle-race. |
| 1892 Q. Rev. Oct. 486 The South-Eastern used, twenty years back, to run a ‘*shuttle’ service every ten minutes between Charing Cross and Cannon St. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 3 July 6/3 This ‘shuttle’ service of electric trains. 1933 Times 28 Feb. 9/4 Shuttle services from the outer districts connecting with the trunk and City routes can be substituted for through services from the suburbs to the City. 1944 A. Jacob Traveller's War xxviii. 419 It is the same kind of non-stop bombing shuttle service with which Conyngham, the A.O.C. Western Desert, achieved such great results in Africa. 1961 Wall St. Jrnl. 20 Mar. 2/3 Eastern Airlines said it wants to start a low-cost air ‘shuttle’ service between Boston, New York and Washington. 1966 ‘H. MacDiarmid’ Company I've Kept viii. 189 About..the..date of my birthday, Biggar Post Office had to run what was virtually a shuttle-service several times a day to deliver the masses of mail. 1969 Guardian 18 Jan. 1/4 We can expect to see a permanent Russian space station in orbit.., probably with a shuttle service of Russian scientists from earth. 1978 Detroit Free Press 5 Mar. d. 16/3 It is more a commercial than a resort hotel, but it has a pool and runs a daily shuttle service to nearby public beaches for guests. |
| 1861 P. P. Carpenter in Rep. Smithsonian Instit. 1860, 195 Family Ovulidæ. (Egg and *Shuttle Shells.) |
| 1744 in Phil. Trans. (1746) XLIII. 194 There was extracted from him..an iron *Shuttle Spire, four Inches long. |
| 1888 A. R. Diehl Two Thousand Words 190 *Shuttle-train, one that takes short runs back and forth. 1923 World Almanac 503/2 A shuttle train runs between 50th Street and 59th Street on Sixth Avenue. 1942 Sun (Baltimore) 7 Mar. 20 When loss of tires has forced the automobile from use, shuttle trains, supplemented by busses, will be the most practical..means for the transportation of workers in this area. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XV. 494/2 In 1965 the first Freightliner container..shuttle trains began running on British Railways. |
| 1688 Holme Armoury iii. 289/1 The parts of a Shuttle are, the *Shuttle Trough, or Box, is the square hole on the top of it, in which the Pin or Shuttle Prick is set within two holes having Yarn..wound about it. |
| 1893 G. Kapp Dynamos, Alternators, & Transformers ix. 209 The simplest example of an open-coil armature is the so-called *shuttle-wound armature. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 577/1 The second or drum method was used in the original ‘shuttle-wound’ armatures invented by Dr. Werner von Siemens in 1856. |
▸
shuttlecraft n. (plural unchanged) a vehicle used as a shuttle; (
esp. in
Science Fiction) a spacecraft used as a shuttle.
| 1950 N.Y. Times 1 Apr. 4/6 Communist authorities in Shanghai had prohibited the use of the LST's as *shuttle craft to the General Gordon, which was prevented by the danger of mines from entering the harbour. 1967 E. Hamilton Weapon from Beyond 150 They marched across the blowing sand and into the golden shuttle-craft that would take them to the rescue ship. 1992 J. Creighton Oil on Troubled Waters (BNC) 70 When the Liberian shuttle tanker Medusa was hit on 10 June 1986, it was its third hit in nine months. The insurance market identified shuttle craft as the most vulnerable in the Gulf and raised premiums accordingly. 2001 Evening Chron. (Newcastle) (Electronic ed.) 4 Apr. Annoyed that Tempest does not listen to her, the science officer makes good her escape on the ship's only shuttlecraft. |
▪ II. † ˈshuttle, n.2 Obs. Forms: α. 1
scyt(t)el,
scetel, 4
ssettel, 5
schettel,
schyt(t)yl; β. 1
scyttels,
scyttyls,
scytels,
scettels, 2
scutles.
[OE. scyt(t)el, scyt(t)els:—prehistoric *skutil, -isli, f. *skut- in scyttan to shut; the two OE. words have different suffixes, but their forms coalesced in ME.: see -el, -els. Cf. WFris. skoattel, EFris. schötel, NFris. sködel. The
mod. dial. shuttle (
shittle,
shettle,
shottle) horizontal bar of a gate (see
Eng. Dial. Dict.), is
perh. the same word.]
1. A bolt or bar, as of a door.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 87 Ealle þa isenan scyttelas helle loca wurdan tobrocene. a 1000 Kent. Gloss. 658 in Haupt's Zeitschr. (1877) IX. 55 Scetel, vectis. c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 70 Ða scytelses [v.r. scittelsas] to burston. a 1023 Wulfstan Hom. (1883) 230 Openiað þas ᵹeatu and þa fæstan scytelsas. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 127 Þet is þet [loc] þeðe deofel ne con unlucan, þet is þet scutles þeðe deofel ne mei nefre to-cysan. 1340 Ayenb. 94 ‘My zoster, my lemman, þou art a gardin besset, myd tuo ssettles,’ þet is þe grace of god, and of angles. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 365/1 Ondoynge, or op(y)nynge of schettellys, or sperellys. Ibid. 447/1 Schyttyl, or sperynge, pessulum, vel pessellum. |
2. ? A shutter or a partition.
| 1614 T. Godwin Rom. Antiq. xviii. 15 By the drawing aside of some wainscot shuttles..a newe partition might seeme to be put vp. |
▪ III. shuttle, n.3 (
ˈʃʌt(ə)l)
Forms: 5
schetel, 6, 9
dial. shittle, 8–
shuttle.
[f. shut v. + -le. It is uncertain whether the word represents
OE. scyttel,
scyttels (see
prec.) in an unrecorded sense, or was a new formation in
ME.]
1. A flood-gate which opens to allow the flow and regulate the supply of water in a mill-stream. Also a similar gate in a drain. Also ‘one of the sections of a shutter-dam’ (
Cent. Dict. 1891).
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 445/2 Schetelys, or gote, supra, aquagium. 1583 Inquisition of Sewers 7 (N.W. Linc. Gloss.), The same sewer from the foresaid fields end to the shittle shall be diked, scowred and cleansed..by Mr. William Dalyson. 1738 Phil. Trans. XLI. 167 The Miller..went immediately, and let down the Shuttle. 1812 Nouaille in J. Nicholson's Oper. Mech. (1825) 111 The shuttle or gate slides upon the floor of the trough, so as to..determine the quantity of water to be let out upon the wheel. 1832 Holderness Drainage Act 13 Stocks, shuttles and other works of drainage. 1845 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. V. ii. 400 The sluices or cloughs used then being merely what now would be called shuttles. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Shittle,..the shuttle of a drain. ‘The shittle agean th' fish-pond is o' no use noo.’ 1887 Fishng Gaz. 2 Apr. 207/2 The..field..opposite the ‘shuttle’ or flood gate. |
2. A small gate or stop through which metal is allowed to pass from the trough to the mould.
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. |
▪ IV. shuttle, n.4 Sc. and
Devon.
(
ˈʃʌt(ə)l)
Also 7
schottlle, 7–
shottle.
[Of doubtful origin: perh. f. shut v. + -le. Cf. prec.] A small drawer,
esp. one fixed in a chest, in which small articles were stored. Also ‘a kind of box in the upper part of a chest, extending across; used for keeping money’; also ‘a till in a shop, a money-box’ (
Jam.).
| 1626 Wedderburne Compt Bk. (S.H.S.) 142 Ane aikin frez pres with schottlles of aik thairin. 1699 E. West Mem. (1865) 114, I thought they were like a cabinet full of shuttles and in every shuttle there was a jewel. 1719 Hamilton Epist. to Ramsay i. 32 Gin that my haff-pay siller shottle Can safely spare it. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxxviii, Those eyes..were now sharply and alertly darting their glances through shuttles, and trunks, and drawers, and cabinets, and all the odd corners of an old maiden lady's repositories. 1823 ― in Lockhart (1839) VII. 105 Like the inside of an antique cabinet with drawers and shottles and funny little arches. 1832 A. E. Bray Tamar & Tavy (1836) III. xxxiv. 80 And I thought of the old names by which the little drawers and boxes in such [old cabinets] were called,—the shuttles. 1866 R. Chambers Ess. Ser. i. 152 A set of docketed papers, tied up with red tape, and deposited in shottle fifteen. 1870 J. K. Hunter Life Studies 158, I had three white half-croons in the shuttle o' my kist. |
▪ V. ˈshuttle, a. Variant of
shittle a., unsteady, shaky, etc., surviving
dial. (see
Eng. Dial. Dict.).
| 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 307 b, Metellus was so shuttle⁓brained that even in the middes of his tribuneship he left his office in Roome. 1553 Respublica v. ii. 85 (Brandl), That shuttle brained, tall, long man. 1602 R. T. 5 Godlie Serm. 200 To some shallow heads, shuttle braines, and simple wits, it seemeth to be [etc.]. 1617 Collins Def. Bp. Ely ii. x. 497 Howsoeuer our shuttle-pated Adioynder thinke of it. a 1649 MS. Poems temp. Chas. I (Halliw.), Nor can you deeme them shuttle-headed fellowes, Who for the Lord are so exceeding zealous. c 1660 Rump Songs I. 7 Is it not strange, that in that Shuttle-head Three Kingdoms ruines should be buried? c 1682 J. Collins Making Salt in Eng. 15 A mixture of harsh shuttle Sand. 1886 W. Somerset Word-bk., Shuttle, quick, lithe, active... Also applied to any dry or easily slipping matter, as grain, seeds, sand, &c. 1888 Stevenson Black Arrow i. ii, See there how shuttle-witted are these girls. |
Hence
† ˈshuttly adv., unsteadily.
| 1661 Petty in Birch Hist. Roy. Soc. (1756) I. 59 To which purpose the quill is too short for the axis whereon it rowls, and moves as shuttley upon it as may be. |
▪ VI. shuttle, v. (
ˈʃʌt(ə)l)
In 6
shutle.
[Partly or perh. wholly f. shuttle n.; but possibly in part a frequentative f. shoot v.: see -le.] 1. a. trans. To move (a thing) briskly to and fro like a shuttle. Also, to throw swiftly.
Obs. exc. dial.| 1550 Coverdale Spir. Perle xxxi. 260 He y{supt} hath an heauy burthen vpon hys back, y⊇ more he shutleth and moueth y⊇ same, y⊇ more doeth it greue hym. 1823 Galt Entail lxiv, He would hae grippit me by the cuff o' the neck and the back o' the breeks and shuttled me through the window. 1840 Carlyle Let. 17 Mar. in Froude Life Lond. (1884) I. 177 A face of most extreme mobility, which he shuttles about..in a very singular manner while speaking. 1857 Meredith Farina (1865) 52 Now general commotion shuttled them. |
b. To transport in a vehicle or craft operating a shuttle service. Also
transf.| 1930 E. Ferber Cimarron xxi. 334 With his geological knowledge..and his familiarity with the region, he was shuttled back and forth from one end of the state to the other. 1945 Times 13 Sept. 5/7 There has been no difficulty about shuttling prisoners resident in the British and American zones. 1965 Listener 30 Sept. 482/2 So what happens to the old patient? Does he or she get shuttled around to one hospital after another? 1971 Nature 27 Aug. 632/1 That malate may serve to ‘shuttle’ reducing equivalents from cytoplasm to mitochondria. 1975 Daily Tel. 1 May 1 Scores of transport aircraft shuttle Vietnamese evacuees from Guam, Wake Island, and the Philippines to America at the rate of up to 5,000 a day. 1977 Offshore Engineer May 49/2 Two 15,000t tankers shuttle the oil to Spanish refineries. 1978 H. Wouk War & Remembrance xiv. 148 Trains devoted to shuttling the Jews rolled eastward jam-packed and went back empty. |
2. intr. To go or move backwards and forwards like a shuttle; to travel quickly to and fro. Also, to travel in one direction using a shuttle service. Also
transf.| 1823 Galt Gilhaize lxxxiv, In the clear linn the trouts shuttled from stone and crevice. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. vi. i, Their corps go marching and shuttling, in the interior of the country. 1884 Harper's Mag. July 270/1 It is as though a section of roadway shuttled to and fro between the shores. 1910 Spectator 23 Apr. 666/2 Faster ships shuttle to and fro weaving the political web more and more rapidly. 1935 M. M. Atwater Murder in Midsummer i. 6 A few automobiles, like overgrown beetles, shuttled back and forth along the concrete highways. 1966 Aviation Week & Space Technol. 5 Dec. 95/1 Analyses could be made automatically or by astronauts shuttling from earth to the satellite laboratory, staying one month or more and then returning to earth. 1971 ‘A. Burgess’ MF iv. 42 He was not to be seen: perhaps he had shuttled off to Boston or somewhere. 1973 Internat. Relations Dict. (U.S. Dept. State Library) 38/1 Henry Kissinger personally shuttled back and forth between Jerusalem and Cairo. 1975 Sci. Amer. Jan. 13/3, I moved ‘temporarily’ to the University of Liverpool in 1965 and have shuttled between the departments of genetics and zoology ever since. 1977 Time 15 Aug. 19/3 Although it was not on his original schedule, Vance decided to shuttle back to Amman, Damascus and Alexandria to convey Israeli views to Sadat and Assad. 1978 R. Ludlum Holcroft Covenant xiii. 157 France's domestic airline shuttled about the country with splendid irregularity. 1979 Sci. Amer. Jan. 29/1 (caption) The trains shuttle back and forth without being uncoupled, acting much like a conveyor belt. |
3. Sc. To ply the shuttle, weave. (See
Eng. Dial. Dict.)
Hence
ˈshuttling ppl. a.| 1860 All Year Round No. 41. 344 The flutes began in a whirling, shuttling movement. |