shuttle

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
shuttle/ˈʃʌtl/

▶noun

• 1 a form of transport that travels regularly between two places.

  ■ short for space shuttle.

• 2 a bobbin with two pointed ends used for carrying the weft thread across between the warp threads in weaving.

  ■ a bobbin carrying the lower thread in a sewing machine.

• 3 short for shuttlecock.

▶verb travel regularly between two or more places.

■ transport in a shuttle.

– origin OE scytel ‘dart, missile’, of Gmc origin; rel. to shoot.