shuttle: [OE] A shuttle is etymologically something that is ‘shot’. Indeed, the word’s Old English precursor scytel meant ‘arrow’ or ‘dart’. It comes ultimately from the prehistoric Germanic base *skaut-, *skeut-, *skut- ‘project’, which also produced English shoot and shut. There is a gap between the disappearance of Old English scytel and the emergence of shuttle in the 14th century, but they are presumably the same word (a shuttle being something that is thrown or ‘shot’ across a loom). => shut
shuttle (n.)
Old English scytel "a dart, arrow," from Proto-Germanic *skutilaz (cognates: Old Norse skutill "harpoon"), from PIE *skeud- "to shoot, to chase, to throw, to project" (see shoot (v.)). The original sense in English is obsolete; the weaving instrument so called (mid-14c.) from being "shot" across the threads. Sense of "train that runs back and forth" is first recorded 1895, from image of the weaver's instrument's back-and-forth movement over the warp; extended to aircraft 1942, to spacecraft 1969. In some other languages, the weaving instrument takes its name from its resemblance to a boat (Latin navicula, French navette, German weberschiff).
shuttle (v.)
1550s, "move rapidly to and fro," from shuttle (n.); sense of "transport via a shuttle service" is recorded from 1930. Related: Shuttled; shuttling.
双语例句
1. The space shuttle had been scheduled to blast off at 04:38.
航天飞机已经预定于凌晨4点38分发射升空。
来自柯林斯例句
2. The space shuttle Atlantis returned safely to earth today.
“亚特兰蒂斯”号航天飞机今天安全返回地球。
来自柯林斯例句
3. A courtesy shuttle bus operates between the hotel and the town.
有免费班车往返于酒店和市区。
来自柯林斯例句
4. UN mediators are conducting shuttle diplomacy between the two sides.
联合国调解员在双方之间进行穿梭外交。
来自柯林斯例句
5. A hydrogen leak forced NASA to ground the space shuttle.