shell

IPA: ʃˈɛɫ

noun

  • A hard external covering of an animal.
  • The calcareous or chitinous external covering of mollusks, crustaceans, and some other invertebrates.
  • (by extension) Any mollusk having such a covering.
  • (entomology) The exoskeleton or wing covers of certain insects.
  • The conjoined scutes that constitute the "shell" (carapace) of a tortoise or turtle.
  • 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.
  • (botany) The hard external covering of various plant seed forms.
  • The covering, or outside part, of a nut.
  • A pod containing the seeds of certain plants, such as the legume Phaseolus vulgaris.
  • (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.
  • (geology) The accreted mineral formed around a hollow geode.
  • (weaponry) The casing of a self-contained single-unit artillery projectile.
  • (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.
  • (weaponry) The cartridge of a breechloading firearm; a load; a bullet; a round.
  • (architecture) 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.
  • An unmarked vehicle for carrying corpses from a crime scene.
  • (music) A string instrument, as a lyre, whose acoustical chamber is formed like a shell.
  • (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.
  • An engraved copper roller used in print works.
  • The thin coating of copper on an electrotype.
  • (nautical) The watertight outer covering of the hull of a vessel, often made with planking or metal plating.
  • (nautical, rigging) The outer frame or case of a block within which the sheaves revolve.
  • (nautical) A light boat whose frame is covered with thin wood, impermeable fabric, or water-proofed paper; a racing shell or dragon boat.
  • (chemistry) A set of atomic orbitals that have the same principal quantum number.
  • (figuratively) The outward form independent of what is inside.
  • (figuratively) The empty outward form of someone or something.
  • An emaciated person.
  • A psychological barrier to social interaction.
  • (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.
  • (business) A legal entity that has no operations.
  • A concave rough cast-iron tool in which a convex lens is ground to shape.
  • (engineering) A gouge bit or shell bit.
  • (phonology) The onset and coda of a syllable.
  • (UK, slang) A person's ear.
  • (Britain, education) One or more school grades within secondary education, at certain public schools.
  • In formal debating, a set of proposed rules to be followed, with set penalties for violating them.
  • A surname.
  • A diminutive of the female given name Michelle.

verb

  • To remove the outer covering or shell of something.
  • To bombard, to fire projectiles at, especially with artillery.
  • (informal) To disburse or give up money, to pay. (Often used with out).
  • (intransitive) To fall off, as a shell, crust, etc.
  • (intransitive) To cast the shell, or exterior covering; to fall out of the pod or husk.
  • (computing, intransitive) To switch to a shell or command line.
  • To form shallow, irregular cracks (in a coating).
  • (topology) To form a shelling.
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Examples of "shell" in Sentences

  • The shell drove the implosion.
  • The outline of the shell is oblongate.
  • The valence shell is the outermost shell of an atom.
  • The object is clear of the inner surface of the shell.
  • The inner surface of the shell is blue and faintly pearly.
  • Growth lines run horizontally over the surface of the shell.
  • One must first cut a slit in the shell and the back of the animal.
  • The shell was a two part carapace on the upper surface of the body.
  • At the moment we have articles on exoskeleton, animal shell, and seashell.
  • Both barometric and shell and tube surface condensers are used for this purpose.

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synonyms for shelldescribing words for shell
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