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Shell   /ʃɛl/   Listen
noun
Shell  n.  
1.
A hard outside covering, as of a fruit or an animal. Specifically:
(a)
The covering, or outside part, of a nut; as, a hazelnut shell.
(b)
A pod.
(c)
The hard covering of an egg. "Think him as a serpent's egg,... And kill him in the shell."
(d)
(Zool.) The hard calcareous or chitinous external covering of mollusks, crustaceans, and some other invertebrates. In some mollusks, as the cuttlefishes, it is internal, or concealed by the mantle. Also, the hard covering of some vertebrates, as the armadillo, the tortoise, and the like.
(e)
(Zool.) Hence, by extension, any mollusks having such a covering.
2.
(Mil.) A hollow projectile, of various shapes, adapted for a mortar or a cannon, and containing an explosive substance, ignited with a fuse or by percussion, by means of which the projectile is burst and its fragments scattered. See Bomb.
3.
The case which holds the powder, or charge of powder and shot, used with breechloading small arms.
4.
Any slight hollow structure; a framework, or exterior structure, regarded as not complete or filled in; as, the shell of a house.
5.
A coarse kind of coffin; also, a thin interior coffin inclosed in a more substantial one.
6.
An instrument of music, as a lyre, the first lyre having been made, it is said, by drawing strings over a tortoise shell. "When Jubal struck the chorded shell."
7.
An engraved copper roller used in print works.
8.
pl. The husks of cacao seeds, a decoction of which is often used as a substitute for chocolate, cocoa, etc.
9.
(Naut.) The outer frame or case of a block within which the sheaves revolve.
10.
A light boat the frame of which is covered with thin wood or with paper; as, a racing shell.
11.
Something similar in form or action to an ordnance shell; specif.:
(a)
(Fireworks) A case or cartridge containing a charge of explosive material, which bursts after having been thrown high into the air. It is often elevated through the agency of a larger firework in which it is contained.
(b)
(Oil Wells) A torpedo.
12.
A concave rough cast-iron tool in which a convex lens is ground to shape.
13.
A gouge bit or shell bit.
Message shell, a bombshell inside of which papers may be put, in order to convey messages.
Shell bit, a tool shaped like a gouge, used with a brace in boring wood. See Bit, n., 3.
Shell button.
(a)
A button made of shell.
(b)
A hollow button made of two pieces, as of metal, one for the front and the other for the back, often covered with cloth, silk, etc.
Shell cameo, a cameo cut in shell instead of stone.
Shell flower. (Bot.) Same as Turtlehead.
Shell gland. (Zool.)
(a)
A glandular organ in which the rudimentary shell is formed in embryonic mollusks.
(b)
A glandular organ which secretes the eggshells of various worms, crustacea, mollusks, etc.
Shell gun, a cannon suitable for throwing shells.
Shell ibis (Zool.), the openbill of India.
Shell jacket, an undress military jacket.
Shell lime, lime made by burning the shells of shellfish.
Shell marl (Min.), a kind of marl characterized by an abundance of shells, or fragments of shells.
Shell meat, food consisting of shellfish, or testaceous mollusks.
Shell mound. See under Mound.
Shell of a boiler, the exterior of a steam boiler, forming a case to contain the water and steam, often inclosing also flues and the furnace; the barrel of a cylindrical, or locomotive, boiler.
Shell road, a road of which the surface or bed is made of shells, as oyster shells.
Shell sand, minute fragments of shells constituting a considerable part of the seabeach in some places.


verb
Shell  v. t.  (past & past part. shelled; pres. part. shelling)  
1.
To strip or break off the shell of; to take out of the shell, pod, etc.; as, to shell nuts or pease; to shell oysters.
2.
To separate the kernels of (an ear of Indian corn, wheat, oats, etc.) from the cob, ear, or husk.
3.
To throw shells or bombs upon or into; to bombard; as, to shell a town.
To shell out, to distribute freely; to bring out or pay, as money. (Colloq.)


Shell  v. i.  
1.
To fall off, as a shell, crust, etc.
2.
To cast the shell, or exterior covering; to fall out of the pod or husk; as, nuts shell in falling.
3.
To be disengaged from the ear or husk; as, wheat or rye shells in reaping.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Shell" Quotes from Famous Books



... been carefully distributed between several firms of founders and engineers, in order that none could have any means of discovering the use to which they were intended to be put. The whole of the shell of the vessel was double, with a packed space between the two skins; and each door opened into a small lobby, having another door on the farther side, to ensure that every part might be kept perfectly ...
— To Mars via The Moon - An Astronomical Story • Mark Wicks
... cone-shaped shells adhering to the rocks. When she and Jean tried to pick the small creatures from their abiding places, the least touch or sound caused them to tighten to the boulders. It was impossible then to dislodge them without smashing the shell. ...
— Where the Sun Swings North • Barrett Willoughby
... a lute that was wrought of a shell Luminous as the shine Of a new-born star in a dewy dell,— And its strings were strands of wine That sprayed at the Fancy's touch and fused, As your listening spirit leant Drunken through with the airs that ...
— The Complete Works • James Whitcomb Riley
... Lake Asphaltites does not present any variety of fish. Mariti asserts that it produces none, and even that those which are carried into it by the rapidity of the Jordan perish almost immediately upon being immerged in its acrid waves. A few shell-snails constitute the sole tenants of its dreary shores, unmixed either with the helix or ...
— Palestine or the Holy Land - From the Earliest Period to the Present Time • Michael Russell
... doors were barred, and were locked by throwing a switch at the near end of the ranges; but any particular door could also be opened by a key. The cell doors of the inner structure were at a distance of some twenty feet from the walls and windows of the outer shell, and got what light and air they had from these—none too much of course. Also, the guard on duty in the range, if the weather be chilly, will close the windows, against the protests of the prisoners, and against the regulations too; ...
— The Subterranean Brotherhood • Julian Hawthorne


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