shunt

[ shuhnt ]

verb (used with object)

1. to shove or turn (someone or something) aside or out of the way.
2. to sidetrack; get rid of.
3. Electricity.
   1. to divert (a part of a current) by connecting a circuit element in parallel with another.
   2. to place or furnish with a shunt.
4. Railroads. to shift (rolling stock) from one track to another; switch.
5. Surgery.
   1. to divert blood or other fluid by means of a shunt.
   2. the tube itself.
6. to move or turn aside or out of the way.
7. (of a locomotive with rolling stock) to move from track to track or from point to point, as in a railroad yard; switch.

noun

1. the act of shunting; shift.
2. Also called bypass. Electricity. a conducting element bridged across a circuit or a portion of a circuit, establishing a current path auxiliary to the main circuit, as a resistor placed across the terminals of an ammeter for increasing the range of the device.
3. a railroad switch.
4. Surgery. a channel through which blood or other bodily fluid is diverted from its normal path by surgical reconstruction or by a synthetic tube.
5. Anatomy. an anastomosis.

adjective

1. Electricity. being, having, or operating by means of a shunt:

   a shunt circuit; a shunt generator.

shunt

/ ʃʌnt /

verb

1. to turn or cause to turn to one side; move or be moved aside
2. railways to transfer (rolling stock) from track to track
3. electronics to divert or be diverted through a shunt
4. tr to evade by putting off onto someone else
5. slang.
   tr motor racing to crash (a car)

noun

1. the act or an instance of shunting
2. a railway point
3. electronics a low-resistance conductor connected in parallel across a device, circuit, or part of a circuit to provide an alternative path for a known fraction of the current
4. med a channel that bypasses the normal circulation of the blood: a congenital abnormality or surgically induced
5. informal.
   a collision which occurs when a vehicle runs into the back of the vehicle in front

Other Words From

• shunter noun
• un·shunted adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of shunt¹

1175–1225; (v.) Middle English schunten, shonten to shy (said of horses); (noun) Middle English, derivative of the v.; akin to shun

Word History and Origins

Origin of shunt¹

C13: perhaps from shunen to shun

Example Sentences

It’s possible that, if the cold front is shunted farther south and east, it deflects Elsa’s remnants out to sea after sideswiping the Carolinas.

From Washington Post

Even if such investigators are trying to be objective, things understood by the irrational to be important triggers will be shunted off into the “questions remain” category.

From Washington Post

The NHL ideally would need to wrap up its postseason before then to ensure that all of the finals games are on NBC and not shunted to a cable network, which would attract far fewer viewers.

From Washington Post

So, it’s not that you’re shunting the bad cells to the placenta — and I know it’s semantics — but it’s that you’re selecting for the good cells in the baby and leaving everything else behind.

From Quanta Magazine

They are shunted around the nation, with little regard for how far from family they go.

From Washington Post

You know, like Nixon tried to shunt responsibility for the break-in on to Liddy, Sturgis, et al.

From The Daily Beast

Television stations can turn down their ads for any reason or shunt them into any time spot.

From The Daily Beast

Instead of attacking neighbors, why not shunt the wrath onto one poor soul who stands in for all would-be enemies?

From The Daily Beast

Once on the subject of jewels, it was difficult to shunt him off on another at short notice.

From Project Gutenberg

In place of a shunt, the voltmeter uses a coil of wire of high resistance (see R, Fig. 249) in series with the galvanometer coil.

From Project Gutenberg

In other words a voltmeter is connected in shunt, while an ammeter is in series with the circuit as is shown in Fig. 250.

From Project Gutenberg

When two or more conductors are connected in parallel each one is said to be a shunt of the others.

From Project Gutenberg

The shunt wound dynamo (see Fig. 286) sends a part only of the current produced through the field coils.

From Project Gutenberg

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