shuttlecock

Etymology

From shuttle (from the back-and-forth sense of the word originating with loom weaving) + cock (from resemblance to a male bird's plume of tail feathers).

noun

1. (countable) A lightweight object that is conical in shape with a cork or rubber-covered nose, used in badminton the way a ball is used in other racquet games. [from early 16th c.]
   The practice of the game in this country is to keep the shuttlecock in the air by striking it from one person to another. 1859, Ebenezer Landells, The Boy’s Own Toy-maker, page 122
2. (uncountable, dated) The game of badminton.
   Two people stand at opposite ends of the room, as in playing shuttlecock […] 1830, Mrs. Marcet (Jane Haldimand), Bertha's visit to her uncle in England (volume 3, page 105)

verb

1. To move rapidly back and forth.
2. To send or toss back and forth; to bandy.
   to shuttlecock words