shut·tle / ˈshətl/ • n. 1. a form of transportation that travels regularly between two places: the nine o'clock shuttle from Boston | [as adj.] a shuttle bus service from the city center. ∎ short for space shuttle.2. a wooden device with two pointed ends holding a bobbin, used for carrying the weft thread between the warp threads in weaving. ∎  a bobbin carrying the lower thread in a sewing machine.3. short for shuttlecock.• v. [intr.] travel regularly between two or more places: a container ship that shuttled between Rotterdam and the Persian Gulf. ∎  [tr.] transport in a shuttle: the river taxi shuttled employees between the newspaper's offices and the capital.

shuttle weaver's instrument for shooting the thread of the weft backwards and forwards. XIV. repr. OE. sċytel dart, arrow, corr. to ON. skutill harpoon, bolt :- Gmc. *scutilaz, f. *skut- SHOOT; see -LE1.