SHUNT
What does "SHUNT" mean?
To move or divert something to a different course, track, or position.
Meanings
- To push or turn aside; to divert from one path or place to another. The patients were shunted from one department to the next all morning.
- To move railway cars from one track to another. The locomotive shunted the empty wagons into a siding. technical
- A device or passage that diverts flow, such as an electrical bypass or a surgical tube redirecting bodily fluid. Surgeons placed a shunt to drain excess fluid from the brain. technical
Did you know?
- A surgical shunt can route excess fluid out of the brain and into the abdomen through a thin tube under the skin - rerouting the body like a railyard reroutes cars.
Word origin
From Middle English 'shunten' (to flinch, move aside), possibly from 'shun' (to avoid); the railway and electrical 'divert' senses developed in the 19th century.
Remember it
SHUNT = 'shun' + t: to shun a path is to shunt away from it.
A little poem
A small switch thrown, no one in the cab-
the heavy car rolls down the chosen rail.
So much of a life is which track took the weight.
tercet
Wordplay
- The lazy train car loved being shunted - it was the only way it ever got pushed to change direction.
What it teaches
What gets shunted aside is not destroyed, only rerouted - keep an eye on the siding.
Quick facts
What does SHUNT mean?
To move or divert something to a different course, track, or position.
Is SHUNT a valid word?
Yes — SHUNT is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is SHUNT?
SHUNT has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does SHUNT come from?
From Middle English 'shunten' (to flinch, move aside), possibly from 'shun' (to avoid); the railway and electrical 'divert' senses developed in the 19th century.
What can SHUNT teach us?
What gets shunted aside is not destroyed, only rerouted - keep an eye on the siding.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.