Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also shunt out) to get rid of.

1888		R. Barnett Police Sergeant C 21 133: We shall be shunted out of this, I know.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 17 Aug. 6/7: [headline] SHUNTED HIS WIFE BECAUSE SHE WORE A BATHING GOWN THE MEN COULD SEE THROUGH.
1906		S. Ford Shorty McCabe 93: He was tryin’ to shunt somebody. They didn’t shunt though, and in comes a long-geared old gent.
1906		N.Z. Truth 4 Aug. 6/3: The people there wanted to shunt the old bag of bones.
1914		C. Holme Lonely Plough (1931) 190: You might shunt the – the friends for me, captain.
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 184: He [...] tried all the dodges, but Matron knew them all and soon shunted him out.
1997		D. Farson Never a Normal Man 32: I was shunted off to Montreal to stay with a friend of my grandmother.

2. to leave, to run off quickly.

1886		Sporting Times 22 May 3/3: ‘If you don’t like it you can do what the engin’ did.’ ‘Wot’s that?’ ‘Why, shunt’.
1889		Clarkson & Richardson Police! 346: This class of thieves [...] always go about the house with their ‘crabs’ off, which articles are generally placed handy in case the owners have to ‘shunt,’ that is, escape quickly.
1900		Marvel 15 May 7: What I suggest is we make a division of what we have and shunt.
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 147: thieves slang to run away or make oneself scarce.
1905		Marvel III:63 21: ‘Shunt off!’ exclaimed Tom.
1910		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘A Dramatic Forecast’ Sporting Times 31 Dec. 2/2: [I] hoped someone would put the bluff fool in a cage / Ere his blitherings caused me to shunt.
1911		A. Bennett Card (1974) 234: ‘We’d better be shunting,’ said Denry.

3. to dismiss, usu. from a job.

1876		Besant & Rice Golden Butterfly II 88: The paper was falling into disgrace, so we shunted him.
1900–10		Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 46: COPPING THE BULLET: getting dismissed: synonymous with getting sacked, getting the wallop, getting the sack, getting shunted, getting fired [...] getting shot, get the chuck.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Aug. 44/2: Orl the fish an’ froot-shops in the Dago’s ’ands! / W’y the ’ell don’t Sydney / Shunt the bloomin’ kidney – / Send the blighters lively back to their own lands?
1926		K.S. Prichard Working Bullocks 259: They say the boss is working to get you shunted, Mark.
1940		H. Drake-Brockman Hot Gold I i: She’ll shunt him first chance she gets.
1960		‘Nino Culotta’ Cop This Lot 154: Give ’im a spin an’ shunted ’im quick bloody smart.