Shell \Shell\, n. [OE. shelle, schelle, AS. scell, scyll; akin to D. shel, Icel. skel, Goth. skalja a tile, and E. skill. Cf. {Scale} of fishes, {Shale}, {Skill}.] 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. --Shak. (d) (Zo["o]l.) 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) (Zo["o]l.) 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. --Knight.
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. --Dryden.
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. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
12. A concave rough cast-iron tool in which a convex lens is ground to shape. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
13. A gouge bit or shell bit. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
{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}. (Zo["o]l.) (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} (Zo["o]l.), 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. --Fuller.
{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.
Shell \Shell\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Shelled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {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 \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.
For many years, individual municipal bonds were available only to well-to-do investors who had $25,000 or more to shell out.
Prepare to shell out 80 beaks, plus materials.
It had been a shell ever since.
"It would be very rare for a snail shell to be more than 20 percent contaminated," he said.
Proposals for the insertion of an art gallery inside the shell of that neglected masterpiece, Alexander 'Greek' Thompson's Caledonia Road Church in Glasgow, by Gillian McInnes may prompt more action to save that splendid building.
On other arguments, that FDI increases imports or that foreign firms have bought high-tech U.S. firms and transferred their technology abroad leaving hollowed-out shell corporations, the authors point to a dearth of hard evidence either way.
McDonald's, serving more than one million eggs a day, is one of the country's largest consumers of shell eggs.
Members of the House Banking Committee today criticized regulators' use of promissory notes to rescue insolvent savings institutions as a "shell game" designed to push the problem into the next administration.
Three decades of hard work later, Mr. Guerrero lives in a tumbledown brick shell about the size and shape of a baseball dugout.
Gable's job interview with Kimberly still rings right as the art of appearing "sincere" becomes a deft little shell game of tongue-in-cheek ironies.
Hey said a parachute attached to the shell failed to open and the shell penetrated the Earth instead of floating gently to the ground.
Hey said a parachute attached to the shell failed to open and the shell penetrated the Earth instead of floating gently to the ground.
When an artillery shell strikes a tank, for instance, the carbide contained inside is hard enough to remain intact, piercing the armor and allowing the explosive to flow through the hole.
It is detonated by firing a spherical shell of high explosive around a ball of plutonium (or highly enriched uranium).
Fire Chief Glenn Alexander said the shell appeared to explode twice.
Metsun Ltd., a shell company set up to lead any bid for GEC, said talks on a possible offer were continuing.
Shareholders will probably back what is, at heart, a classic piece of shell company financing, especially since the upturn will underwrite most of the risk.
As the smell of rot dispersed, a diversity of spaces and heights appeared which will make it an exciting place for the new owner to finish. the council has wisely left it a shell building.
Mr. Colburn counters that old shell is getting scarce and that fresh shell lasts three times longer.
Mr. Colburn counters that old shell is getting scarce and that fresh shell lasts three times longer.
The eggs are fertilized outside the shell and hatch into free-swimming larvae called veligers.
Some 1,000 sq m of cracks originated with the hasty installation of the shell following the 1986 disaster.
Symbolizing the financial and legal mess was the shell of a condominium-hotel, part of a 440-acre project that McConnell called Grand Beach, which stood rotting in the Gulf breeze until a fire destroyed it last month.
Ms. Sun admitted using that document and other false records to obtain loans from Dreieck, a Swiss financial institution, for Chinese International Growth Fund, a shell corporation controlled by Ms. Sun and her unidentified co-conspirators.
As previously reported, Centronics, a pioneer in the printer business, will become a shell corporation and is expected to become a player in the corporate takeover arena.
Earlier, plant spokesman Yuri Risovany said in a telephone interview that three reactors were running during Gorbachev's visit. The damaged No. 4 reactor, encased in a steel-and-concrete shell, does not operate.
Bellson said that although everyone was devastated by the death, it was important not retreat into a shell.
Indeed, Chairman J. Shelby Bryan acknowledges that a PCN device in a photo that the company widely distributed to the media is just a plastic shell minus electronic components.
If that proves impossible, the key people may simply quit, leaving a shell behind, and start a new video games company.
The W-79 warhead goes on an 8-inch Army artillery shell and is designed to explode in battle with a nuclear yield of up to 10 kilotons.