Pronunciations (5)
-
/ʃɛl/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
-
/ʃel/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
- New-Zealand
-
/ʃæl/
-
/ʃɛl/
-
ʃɛl
Noun
A hard external covering of an animal. The calcareous or chitinous external covering of mollusks, crustaceans, and some other invertebrates.
- Examples
-
In some mollusks, as the cuttlefish, the shell is concealed by the animal's outer mantle and is considered internal.
Genuine mother-of-pearl buttons are made from sea shells.
More examples (1)
[…] if with thee the roaring wells Should gulf him fathom-deep in brine; And hands so often clasp’d in mine, Should toss with tangle and with shells.
A hard external covering of an animal. Any mollusk having such a covering.
Usage- broadly
A hard external covering of an animal. The exoskeleton or wing covers of certain insects.
A hard external covering of an animal. The conjoined scutes that constitute the "shell" (carapace) of a tortoise or turtle.
A hard external covering of an animal. The overlapping hard plates comprising the armor covering the armadillo's body.
The hard calcareous covering of a bird egg.
One of the outer layers of skin of an onion.
- Examples
-
The restaurant served caramelized onion shells.
The hard external covering of various plant seed forms. The covering, or outside part, of a nut.
- Examples
-
The black walnut and the hickory nut, both of the same Genus as the pecan, have much thicker and harder shells than the pecan.
The hard external covering of various plant seed forms. A pod containing the seeds of certain plants, such as the legume Phaseolus vulgaris.
The hard external covering of various plant seed forms. Husks of cacao seeds, a decoction of which is sometimes used as a substitute or adulterant for cocoa and its products such as chocolate.
Usage- in-plural
The accreted mineral formed around a hollow geode.
The casing of a self-contained single-unit artillery projectile.
A hollow, usually spherical or cylindrical projectile fired from a siege mortar or a smoothbore cannon. It contains an explosive substance designed to be ignited by a fuse or by percussion at the target site so that it will burst and scatter at high velocity its contents and fragments. Formerly called a bomb.
The cartridge of a breechloading firearm; a load; a bullet; a round.
Any slight hollow structure; a framework, or exterior structure, regarded as not complete or filled in, as the shell of a house.
A garment, usually worn by women, such as a shirt, blouse, or top, with short sleeves or no sleeves, that often fastens in the rear.
A coarse or flimsy coffin; a thin interior coffin enclosed within a more substantial one.
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
Upstairs in that chill darkened room which nobody passes who can help it , the old Baronet lies in his coffin shell - an awful form faintly defined beneath the sheet
An unmarked vehicle for carrying corpses from a crime scene.
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
Then they lifted the body into the bag, setting it down like something breakable, zipped the bag, wrapped the whole thing in polythene and carried the stretcher into the shell.
A string instrument, as a lyre, whose acoustical chamber is formed like a shell.
- Examples
-
The first lyre may have been made by drawing strings over the underside of a tortoise shell.
when Jubal struck the chorded shell
The body of a drum; the often wooden, often cylindrical acoustic chamber, with or without rims added for tuning and for attaching the drum head.
An engraved copper roller used in print works.
The thin coating of copper on an electrotype.
The watertight outer covering of the hull of a vessel, often made with planking or metal plating.
The outer frame or case of a block within which the sheaves revolve.
A light boat whose frame is covered with thin wood, impermeable fabric, or water-proofed paper; a racing shell or dragon boat.
A set of atomic orbitals that have the same principal quantum number.
The outward form independent of what is inside.
Usage- Figurative
The empty outward form of someone or something.
Usage- Figurative
- Examples
-
The setback left him a mere shell; he was never the same again.
More examples (1)
Mr. Thomas adds that, by the time it was scrapped, Kingsley was in very bad condition, little more than a shell in fact. In view of the rough usage to which the engine had been subjected, this is not surprising.
An emaciated person.
- Examples
-
He's lost so much weight from illness; he's a shell of his former self.
A person otherwise diminished.
Usage- Figurative
- Examples
-
Since coming back from Vietnam, he's been a shell of his former self.
A psychological barrier to social interaction.
- Examples
-
Even after months of therapy he's still in his shell.
An operating system software user interface, whose primary purpose is to launch other programs and control their interactions; the user's command interpreter. Shell is a way to separate the internal complexity of the implementation of the command from the user. The internals can change while the user experience/interface remains the same.
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
The name "Bash" is an acronym which stands for "Bourne-again shell", itself a pun on the name of the "Bourne shell", an earlier Unix shell designed by Stephen Bourne, and the Christian concept of being "born again".
A legal entity that has no operations.
- Examples
-
A shell corporation was formed to acquire the old factory.
A concave rough cast-iron tool in which a convex lens is ground to shape.
A gouge bit or shell bit.
The onset and coda of a syllable.
A person's ear.
Usage- UK usage
- Slang
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
Can I have a quick word in your shell?
One or more school grades within secondary education, at certain public schools.
Usage- UK usage
- Examples
-
Chinese (Mandarin) is taught at Westminster from the Lower Shell as an optional subject.
In formal debating, a set of proposed rules to be followed, with set penalties for violating them.
- Examples
-
a theory shell
a topicality shell
Verb
To remove the outer covering or shell of something.
To bombard, to fire projectiles at, especially with artillery.
- Examples
-
The guns shelled the enemy trenches.
There wasn’t even a shed there, and she was shelling the bush.
To disburse or give up money, to pay. (Often used with out).
Usage- Informal
To fall off, as a shell, crust, etc.
Usage- Intransitive
To cast the shell, or exterior covering; to fall out of the pod or husk.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
-
Nuts shell in falling.
Wheat or rye shells in reaping.
To switch to a shell or command line.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
-
Automenu is a good program to try, and offers a fair amount of protection - but, unfortunately, it's one of those systems that allow users to shell to DOS.
To form shallow, irregular cracks (in a coating).
To form a shelling.
To drop (the ball).
Usage- Slang
- Transitive
- Examples
-
He shelled it, and dislocated his finger in the process.
Noun
ammunition consisting of a cylindrical metal casing containing an explosive charge and a projectile; fired from a large gun
- Broader terms
the material that forms the hard outer covering of many animals
- Broader terms
hard outer covering or case of certain organisms such as arthropods and turtles
- Broader terms
the hard usually fibrous outer layer of some fruits especially nuts
- Broader terms
the exterior covering of a bird's egg
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
a rigid covering that envelops an object
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
the satellite is covered with a smooth shell of ice
a very light narrow racing boat
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
the housing or outer covering of something
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
the clock has a walnut case
a metal sheathing of uniform thickness (such as the shield attached to an artillery piece to protect the gunners)
- Broader terms
the hard largely calcareous covering of a mollusc or a brachiopod
- Broader terms
Verb
use explosives on
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
The enemy has been shelling us all day
create by using explosives
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
blast a passage through the mountain
fall out of the pod or husk
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
The corn shelled
hit the pitches of hard and regularly
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
He shelled the pitcher for eight runs in the first inning
look for and collect shells by the seashore
- Broader terms
come out better in a competition, race, or conflict
- Examples
-
Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship
We beat the competition
More examples (1)
Harvard defeated Yale in the last football game
remove from its shell or outer covering
- Examples
-
shell the legumes
shell mussels
remove the husks from
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
husk corn