- shunt´er
- shunt «shuhnt», verb, noun.–v.t.1. a) to switch (a train) from one track to another: »
The car was uncoupled from the rest of the train and shunted into a siding (London Times).
SYNONYM(S): deflection. b) to switch (anything) to another route or place: »After the mixture…is ground, a small blower shunts the feed to the top of the crib (Wall Street Journal).
SYNONYM(S): deflection.2. Figurative. a) to push aside or out of the way; sidetrack: »My mind has been shunted off upon the track of other duties (James Russell Lowell).
b) to get rid of.3. Electricity. to carry (a part of a current) by means of a shunt.4. Medicine. to divert (blood) by using a shunt.–v.i.1. (of a train) to move from one line of rails to another.2. to move out of the way; turn aside: »Trucks shunt…unceasingly, the drivers…displaying something like wizardry in maneuvering them through perennial traffic jams (Bulletin of Atomic Scientists).
–n.1. the act of turning aside; shift.2. a railroad switch.3. a wire or other conductor, joining two points in an electric circuit and forming a path through which a part of the current may pass; bypass. It is usually of relatively low resistance. Shunts are used to regulate the amount of current passing through the main circuit. »However, by inserting a low resistance shunt in parallel with the pivoted coil…any galvanometer may be modified to serve as an ammeter or voltmeter (Sears and Zemansky).
4. Medicine. a) communication between blood vessels; anastomosis: »Shunts…had previously been detected by having the patient breathe a mixture of the gas nitrous oxide and tracing its course through the circulatory system (Science News Letter).
b) an artificial pathway or connection formed to divert the blood from its normal channels: »In the new use of this arteriovenous shunt for radiation treatment, the permanent tubes in the arm are simply connected to a length of plastic tubing that leads the blood beyond the body to the radiation source and back (New York Times).
5. U.S. Slang. a crash between cars in an automobile race.╂[origin uncertain]–shunt´er, noun.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.