shunt |SHənt| verb 1 [ with obj. ] push or pull (a train or part of a train) from the main line to a siding or from one track to another: their train had been shunted into a siding. • (usu. be shunted) push or shove (someone or something): chairs were being shunted back and forth. • direct or divert (someone or something) to a less important place or position: amateurs were gradually being shunted to filing jobs.

2 [ with obj. ] provide (an electrical current) with a conductor joining two points of a circuit, through which more or less of the current may be diverted. noun

1 an act of pushing or shoving something. 2 an electrical conductor joining two points of a circuit, through which more or less of a current may be diverted. • Surgery an alternative path for the passage of the blood or other body fluid: [ as modifier ] : shunt surgery.

ORIGIN Middle English (in the sense ‘move suddenly aside’): perhaps from shun.