shuttle

American  

[shuht-l] / ˈʃʌt l /

noun

1. a device in a loom for passing or shooting the weft thread through the shed from one side of the web to the other, usually consisting of a boat-shaped piece of wood containing a bobbin on which the weft thread is wound.

2. the sliding container that carries the lower thread in a sewing machine.

3. a public conveyance, as a train, airplane, or bus, that travels back and forth at regular intervals over a particular route, especially a short route or one connecting two transportation systems.

4. shuttlecock.

5. (often initial capital letter) space shuttle.

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verb (used with object)

• shuttles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• shuttled,
  past participle,  past
• shuttling
  present participle

1. to cause (someone or something) to move to and fro or back and forth by or as if by a shuttle.

   They shuttled me all over the seventh floor.

verb (used without object)

• shuttles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• shuttled,
  past participle,  past
• shuttling
  present participle

1. to move to and fro.

   constantly shuttling between city and suburb.

shuttle British  

/ ˈʃʌtəl /

noun

1. a bobbin-like device used in weaving for passing the weft thread between the warp threads

2. a small bobbin-like device used to hold the thread in a sewing machine or in tatting, knitting, etc

3. 1. a bus, train, aircraft, etc, that plies between two points, esp one that offers a frequent service over a short route

   2. short for space shuttle

4. 1. the movement between various countries of a diplomat in order to negotiate with rulers who refuse to meet each other

   2. ( as modifier )

      shuttle diplomacy

5. badminton short for shuttlecock

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verb

1. to move or cause to move by or as if by a shuttle

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• shuttlelike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• shuttling
  present
• shuttled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• shuttle
  simple
• shuttles
  simple
• have shuttled
  perfect
• has shuttled
  perfect
• am shuttling
  progressive
• are shuttling
  progressive
• is shuttling
  progressive
• have been shuttling
  perfect progressive
• has been shuttling
  perfect progressive

Past

• shuttled
  simple
• had shuttled
  perfect
• was shuttling
  progressive
• were shuttling
  progressive
• had been shuttling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will shuttle
  simple
• will have shuttled
  perfect
• will be shuttling
  progressive
• will have been shuttling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of shuttle

before 900; Middle English shotil (noun), Old English scytel dart, arrow; cognate with Old Norse skutill harpoon; akin to shut, shoot ¹

Explanation

A shuttle runs between two or more places regularly. The benefit to staying at a hotel close to the airport is that you can take a shuttle, or a regular bus that travels back and forth, to catch your plane in the morning. Airport shuttles are often buses, although they can also be trains, vans, or any other form of transportation. Some airplanes are shuttles, flying passengers on quick trips. You can also use the word shuttle as a verb, to describe what the bus itself does as it moves back and forth. The original meaning of shuttle is the part of a hand loom that moves to and fro in weaving.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shuttle shuttles shuttled shuttling

Hills Meadow Car Park will be the dedicated area for drop offs and pick ups and people attending the festival can either walk to the site or use free shuttle buses.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

Both vessels performed multiple shuttle runs before being hit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

People posted on social media, reporting "crazy queues" for the shuttle bus and blue flashing lights on the main road outside the stadium.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

Embraer executives also gave an update on Eve Air Mobility, a subsidiary developing electric "air taxis" designed to shuttle passengers above congested city streets.

From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026

Cat looked sideways at the shuttle driver and Scarf Lady.

From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn

Unlike the Hollywood Bowl, which has fleets of shuttles ready to go, F&M Bank Amphitheater’s shuttle operation felt a bit leaner.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

Graham shuttles off this mortal coil with no such vindication.

From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2026

Moxi – which shuttles medical supplies around hospitals – might respond by displaying its heart-shaped LED eyes and a beep beep greeting of its own.

From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026

At Denali, CEO Ryan Watts says that engineering receptor-mediated shuttles has been his life for 20 years.

From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026

The families of weaver ants engage in child labor, holding their larvae like shuttles to spin out the thread that sews the leaves together for their fungus gardens.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

A surreptitious airport catering truck secretly shuttled Trump to a waiting military plane, which flew him out instead.

From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026

Instead of leaving on either that jet or “former” Air Force One, the president secretly hopped into an airport catering truck and shuttled to an Air Force C-32A, a smaller military plane.

From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026

More than 31 million barrels of fuel and chemicals were shuttled between U.S. ports by foreign vessels.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026

For six weeks, she was shuttled with other women between detention sites, including al-Mina al-Bary, a bus depot near the market where the UN said hundreds were held in about 70 shipping containers.

From Barron's ● Mar. 22, 2026

He still rocks and he still paces the halls whenever he isn’t shuttled into a room.

From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini

“I left Paris thinking I’m going to goof off now,” Conlon explained, having for seven of his nine Paris years retained his positions in Cologne, shuttling between two exceptionally demanding jobs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026

Erika Martinez, an Uber and Lyft driver in the San Francisco Bay Area, used to fill up her 2022 Toyota RAV4 every morning for about $50, before spending the day shuttling customers across the region.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 12, 2026

The talks themselves are expected to be indirect: the two delegations sitting in separate rooms with Pakistani officials shuttling proposals between them, mirroring the format used in earlier Oman-mediated rounds.

From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026

Scott hopes this shuttling around of his stem cells, a procedure that costs patients $10,000, will rejuvenate his 82-year-old body and ward off the effects of aging.

From Slate ● Mar. 30, 2026

The next turn was to keep it low, and shuttling hard between them, while the ring of boys gave them a steady stamping beat.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

Related Words

• airplane
• plane
• shuttle bus
• spacecraft
• train