shunt

Everyday

1. To shunt something is to push or move it to one side, often roughly. tree →
2. To shunt a train or railway carriage is to move it from one track to another. tree →
3. To shunt a person is to send them somewhere less important because you do not want them in the way. tree →
4. (noun, UK informal) A shunt is a small car crash where one car bumps into the back of another. tree →
5. (noun, medicine) A shunt is a small tube doctors put in the body to carry fluid from one place to another. tree →

In the lessons

On the railway, small engines shunt wagons into sidings; in The Wind in the Willows Toad's adventures run through railways and engines. In everyday talk «shunted aside» or «shunted off» means someone was pushed out of the way unfairly. In science, a shunt in electricity is a path that lets current go around something.

Examples

• The little engine shunted the coal wagons into the siding. tree →
• The new boy felt he had been shunted to the back of the class. tree →
• Dad had a shunt in the car park, but nobody was hurt. tree →
• The workers shunted the heavy boxes along the floor. tree →
• The old carriages were shunted onto a side track. tree →
• Doctors fitted a shunt to drain the fluid. tree →
• Don't let the little ones be shunted aside in the game. tree →

Note

Regular verb: shunt, shunted. Often with «aside», «off», «onto», «into». The car-crash noun is mostly British. Do not mix up with «shun» (to keep away from someone on purpose).