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.
I had to fly far and wide, shutting athwart the big
Babel, wherever his calls and pauses had to be.
--Carlyle.