Shut·tle n.
 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 Zool., 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.


 Weav·er n.
 1. One who weaves, or whose occupation is to weave. “Weavers of linen.” --P. Plowman.
 2. Zool. A weaver bird.
 3. Zool. An aquatic beetle of the genus Gyrinus.  See Whirling.
 Weaver bird Zool., any one of numerous species of Asiatic, Fast Indian, and African birds belonging to Ploceus and allied genera of the family Ploceidae.  Weaver birds resemble finches and sparrows in size, colors, and shape of the bill. They construct pensile nests composed of interlaced grass and other similar materials.  In some of the species the nest is retort-shaped, with the opening at the bottom of the tube.
 Weavers' shuttle Zool., an East Indian marine univalve shell (Radius volva); -- so called from its shape.  See Illust. of Shuttle shell, under Shuttle.

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