shuttle

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈʃʌt.əl/, US /ˈʃʌt̬.əl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English shittle, inherited from Old English scytel (“dart, arrow”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Proto-Germanic *skutilaz,^[2][3][4] cognate with Old Norse skutill (“harpoon”),^[2][3][4][7] related to scēotan (“to shoot”) (see shoot),^[2][4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *skeud- (“to shoot, chase, throw”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A dart or missile, in Old English: about 875.^[8][2]

Semantic evolution

The weaver's instrument, “shot” across the threads, is from 1338.^[2][8][3] The shuttlecock is a shuttle from about 1440.^[8] Thread-carriers in netting and sewing machines followed (1767, 1846).^[8] A train running back and forth over a short route is from 1895,^[2][3] air services from 1942, and the space shuttle by 1969.^[3][8] The verb, to move to and fro, is from the 1540s, and to carry by a shuttle service from 1930.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 875 – a dart.^[8]
• 1338 – a weaver's shuttle.^[2][8]
• 1540s – to shuttle (verb).^[3]
• 1895 – a shuttle train.^[2][3]
• 1942 – a shuttle air service.^[3]
• by 1969 – the space shuttle.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A device in weaving that carries the weft thread between the warp threads.
2. A bobbin-like device holding the thread in a sewing machine or in tatting.
3. A bus, train or aircraft running frequently between two places.
4. A space shuttle.

Verb

1. To move or travel back and forth.
2. To carry by or as if by a shuttle.

Word family

• shuttler
• shuttleless
• shuttlelike
• shuttlecock
• shuttlecraft
• shuttle diplomacy

Related words

• shoot
• shot

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press