Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Shuttle \Shut"tle\, n. [Also shittle, OE. schitel, scytyl,
   schetyl; cf. OE. schitel a bolt of a door, AS. scyttes; all
   from AS. sce['o]tan to shoot; akin to Dan. skyttel, skytte,
   shuttle, dial. Sw. skyttel, sk["o]ttel. [root]159. See
   {Shoot}, and cf. {Shittle}, {Skittles}.]
   1. An instrument used in weaving for passing or shooting the
      thread of the woof from one side of the cloth to the other
      between the threads of the warp.

            Like shuttles through the loom, so swiftly glide My
            feathered hours.                      --Sandys.

   2. The sliding thread holder in a sewing machine, which
      carries the lower thread through a loop of the upper
      thread, to make a lock stitch.

   3. A shutter, as for a channel for molten metal. [R.]

   {Shuttle box} (Weaving), a case at the end of a shuttle race,
      to receive the shuttle after it has passed the thread of
      the warp; also, one of a set of compartments containing
      shuttles with different colored threads, which are passed
      back and forth in a certain order, according to the
      pattern of the cloth woven.

   {Shutten race}, a sort of shelf in a loom, beneath the warp,
      along which the shuttle passes; a channel or guide along
      which the shuttle passes in a sewing machine.

   {Shuttle shell} (Zo["o]l.), any one of numerous species of
      marine gastropods of the genus {Volva}, or {Radius},
      having a smooth, spindle-shaped shell prolonged into a
      channel at each end.