Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Shunt \Shunt\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Shunted}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Shunting}.] [Prov. E., to move from, to put off, fr. OE.
   shunten, schunten, schounten; cf. D. schuinte a slant, slope,
   Icel. skunda to hasten. Cf. {Shun}.]
   1. To shun; to move from. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]

   2. To cause to move suddenly; to give a sudden start to; to
      shove. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] --Ash.

   3. To turn off to one side; especially, to turn off, as a
      grain or a car upon a side track; to switch off; to shift.

            For shunting your late partner on to me. --T.
                                                  Hughes.

   4. (Elec.) To provide with a shunt; as, to shunt a
      galvanometer.

Shunt \Shunt\, n. [Cf. D. schuinte slant, slope, declivity. See
   {Shunt}, v. t.]
   1. (Railroad) A turning off to a side or short track, that
      the principal track may be left free.

   2. (Elec.) A conducting circuit joining two points in a
      conductor, or the terminals of a galvanometer or dynamo,
      so as to form a parallel or derived circuit through which
      a portion of the current may pass, for the purpose of
      regulating the amount passing in the main circuit.

   3. (Gunnery) The shifting of the studs on a projectile from
      the deep to the shallow sides of the grooves in its
      discharge from a shunt gun.

   {Shunt dynamo} (Elec.), a dynamo in which the field circuit
      is connected with the main circuit so as to form a shunt
      to the letter, thus employing a portion of the current
      from the armature to maintain the field.

   {Shunt gun}, a firearm having shunt rifling. See under
      {Rifling}.

Shunt \Shunt\, v. i.
   To go aside; to turn off.

Source : WordNet®

shunt
     n 1: a passage by which a bodily fluid (especially blood) is
          diverted from one channel to another; "an arteriovenus
          shunt"
     2: a conductor having low resistance in parallel with another
        device to divert a fraction of the current [syn: {electrical
        shunt}, {bypass}]
     3: implant consisting of a tube made of plastic or rubber; for
        draining fluids within the body
     v 1: transfer to another track, of trains
     2: provide with or divert by means of an electrical shunt