Definition of "shell"

shell

/ʃɛl/

noun
plural shells
1. A hard external covering of an animal.
  1. The calcareous or chitinous external covering of mollusks, crustaceans, and some other invertebrates.
    Quotations
    […] if with thee the roaring wells⁠Should gulf him fathom-deep in brine;⁠And hands so often clasp’d in mine,Should toss with tangle and with shells.
    1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], canto X
  2. (by extension) Any mollusk having such a covering.
  3. (entomology) The exoskeleton or wing covers of certain insects.
  4. The conjoined scutes that constitute the "shell" (carapace) of a tortoise or turtle.
  5. The overlapping hard plates comprising the armor covering the armadillo's body.
2. The hard calcareous covering of a bird egg.
3. One of the outer layers of skin of an onion.
4. (botany) The hard external covering of various plant seed forms.
  1. The covering, or outside part, of a nut.
  2. A pod containing the seeds of certain plants, such as the legume Phaseolus vulgaris.
  3. (in the plural) Husks of cacao seeds, a decoction of which is sometimes used as a substitute or adulterant for cocoa and its products such as chocolate.
5. (geology) The accreted mineral formed around a hollow geode.
6. (weaponry) The casing of a self-contained single-unit artillery projectile.
7. (weaponry) 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.
8. (weaponry) The cartridge of a breechloading firearm; a load; a bullet; a round.
9. (architecture) Any slight hollow structure; a framework, or exterior structure, regarded as not complete or filled in, as the shell of a house.
10. 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.
11. A coarse or flimsy coffin; a thin interior coffin enclosed within a more substantial one.
  Quotations
  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
  1877, Burke O'Farrell, Proud as Lucifer: A Novel
12. An unmarked vehicle for carrying corpses from a crime scene.
  Quotations
  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.
  2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 23
13. (music) A string instrument, as a lyre, whose acoustical chamber is formed like a shell.
  Quotations
  when Jubal struck the chorded shell
  1687, John Dryden, A Song for Cecilia's Day
14. (music) 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.
15. An engraved copper roller used in print works.
16. The thin coating of copper on an electrotype.
17. (nautical) The watertight outer covering of the hull of a vessel, often made with planking or metal plating.
18. (nautical, rigging) The outer frame or case of a block within which the sheaves revolve.
19. (nautical) A light boat whose frame is covered with thin wood, impermeable fabric, or water-proofed paper; a racing shell or dragon boat.
20. (chemistry) A set of atomic orbitals that have the same principal quantum number.
21. (figuratively) The outward form independent of what is inside.
22. (figuratively) The empty outward form of someone or something.
23. An emaciated person.
24. A psychological barrier to social interaction.
25. (computing) 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.
26. (business) A legal entity that has no operations.
27. A concave rough cast-iron tool in which a convex lens is ground to shape.
28. (engineering) A gouge bit or shell bit.
29. (phonology) The onset and coda of a syllable.
30. (UK, slang) A person's ear.
31. (Britain, education) One or more school grades within secondary education, at certain public schools.
  Quotations
  Chinese (Mandarin) is taught at Westminster from the Lower Shell as an optional subject.
  2013, “Chinese (Mandarin)”, in Westminster School‎, retrieved 4 December 2023
32. In formal debating, a set of proposed rules to be followed, with set penalties for violating them.
verb
third-person singular simple present shells, present participle shelling, simple past and past participle shelled
1. To remove the outer covering or shell of something.
2. To bombard, to fire projectiles at, especially with artillery.
  Quotations
  There wasn’t even a shed there, and she was shelling the bush.
  1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], part I, page 203
3. (informal) To disburse or give up money, to pay. (Often used with out).
4. (intransitive) To fall off, as a shell, crust, etc.
5. (intransitive) To cast the shell, or exterior covering; to fall out of the pod or husk.
6. (computing, intransitive) To switch to a shell or command line.
  Quotations
  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.
  1993, Robin Nixon, The PC Companion, page 115
7. To form shallow, irregular cracks (in a coating).
8. (topology) To form a shelling.