shunt

1 of 2

verb

ˈshənt 

shunted; shunting; shunts

transitive verb

1

a

: to turn off to one side : shift

was shunted aside

b

: to switch (a railroad car, a train, etc.) from one track to another

2

: to provide with or divert by means of an electrical shunt

3

: to divert (blood or other bodily fluid) from one part to another by a surgical shunt

4

: shuttle

shunted the missiles from shelter to shelter

intransitive verb

1

: to move to the side

2

: to travel back and forth

shunted between the two towns

shunter noun

shunt

2 of 2

noun

1

: a means or mechanism for turning or thrusting aside: such as

a

chiefly British : a railroad switch

b

: a conductor joining two points in an electrical circuit so as to form a parallel or alternative path through which a portion of the current may pass (as for regulating the amount passing in the main circuit)

c

: a surgical passage created to divert a bodily fluid (such as blood) from one vessel or part to another

also : a device (such as a narrow tube) used to establish a similar passage

2

chiefly British : an accident (such as a collision between two cars) especially in auto racing

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

After only four doses over three days, Sheskin’s patient saw his lesions almost completely heal, all the more miraculous since the primary treatment for leprosy back then was simply to shunt sufferers into lives of isolation in leper colonies. —Christian Millman, Discover Magazine, 23 Oct. 2019

For these reasons, plants could shunt it to their nectar, attracting more pollinators to the flower and saving its leaves from being devoured. —Jennifer Ball, Discover Magazine, 19 Apr. 2022

Back then, even fewer clinicians understood how to handle functional symptoms, and the standard of care was basically to shrug and send the patient home, or shunt them off to therapy. —Natalie Shure, The New Republic, 8 Dec. 2022

The most obvious one is that blood flow and oxygen delivery are diverted to supply working muscles and shunt excess heat to your skin, starving the gut cells of oxygen. —Alex Hutchinson, Outside Online, 18 Nov. 2022

So, too, does the available all-wheel-drive system, which sends 70 percent of the engine's torque rearward and can further shunt 100 percent of that total to either rear wheel. —Joe Lorio, Car and Driver, 3 Aug. 2022

Heat domes shunt the jet stream to the north, meaning the river of swiftly-moving upper-atmospheric winds was racing over the Northern Plains with plenty of momentum for thunderstorms to tap into. —Matthew Cappucci, Washington Post, 5 July 2022

Sparing Jeff the tough choices, the writers shunt moral transformation onto a minor character. —Bonnie Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 17 June 2022

An easy answer has been to shunt the discourse over to mental illness as the cause and in this way marginalize the problem and identify a ready, if superficial, solution to it: improving mental health. —Arie Kruglanski, The Conversation, 19 May 2022

Noun

When a baby successfully breathes in through the lungs, the heart changes from parallel flow to serial flow and the shunt between the right and left atriums closes. —Laura Da’ Victoria Chang, New York Times, 1 Sep. 2022

The shunt changed the lives of patients everywhere, because living with kidney disease became possible. —Allison Futterman, Discover Magazine, 3 Dec. 2021

About half the time, a broken shunt is the problem, DeCosmo said. —Jeanne Huber, Washington Post, 30 Nov. 2022

Delaney is currently in the hospital recovering from an infection, most likely because of her shunt implants. —Cathy Kozlowicz, USA TODAY, 4 Dec. 2022

Delaney is currently in the hospital recovering from an infection, most likely because of her shunt implants. —Cathy Kozlowicz, Journal Sentinel, 2 Dec. 2022

The Blalock-Taussig shunt procedure joined an artery leaving the heart to an artery leading to the lungs in an attempt to give the blood a second chance at oxygenation. —Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Nov. 2022

After Long Beach, where he got caught up in Jimmie Johnson’s late-race shunt, Malukas found himself two months into his series debut and had finished just one race. —Nathan Brown, The Indianapolis Star, 21 Aug. 2022

At the press conference, DeSantis was joined by the family of golfer Isabella Valle, who has cerebral palsy, epilepsy and a shunt in her brain. —Byjay O'brien, ABC News, 3 June 2022

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Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English, to move suddenly, turn away, evade, perhaps from past participle of shonen

First Known Use

Verb

13th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Noun

1842, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

shunt

1 of 2 verb

ˈshənt 

1

: to turn off to one side or out of the way : shift

2

: to switch (as a train) from one track to another

shunter noun

shunt

2 of 2 noun

: a method or device for turning or pushing aside

especially : a conductor joining two points in an electrical circuit so as to form a path through which a portion of the current may pass

Medical Definition

shunt

1 of 2 transitive verb

ˈshənt 

: to divert by or as if by a shunt

especially : to divert (blood or other bodily fluid) from one part to another by a surgical shunt

shunt

2 of 2 noun

1

: a passage by which a bodily fluid (as blood) is diverted from one channel, circulatory path, or part to another

especially : such a passage established by surgery or occurring as an abnormality

an arteriovenous shunt

2

a

: a surgical procedure for the establishment of an artificial shunt see portacaval shunt

b

: a device (as a narrow tube) used to establish an artificial shunt

plastic shunts have been used to bypass temporarily sections of major arteries

—Johnson McGuire & Arnold Iglauer