Definition of "carapace"

carapace

/ˈkɛɹ.əˌpeɪs/

noun
plural carapaces
1. A hard protective covering of bone or chitin, especially one which covers the dorsal portion of an animal.
2. in figurative use
  Quotations
  So, little by little, youth loosens the hard carapace of confining custom their elders have built over the human heart.
  1928, Edward A. Ross, World Drift, New York, London: The Century Co., page 12
  This is all a massive failure of science to pierce the carapace of public ignorance.
  2010 January 8, Simon Jenkins, “The proliferation of nuclear panic is politics at its most ghoulish”, in The Guardian, §: “Comment & Debate”, page 29, column 4