I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
shell game
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Critics called the proposal a shell game.
shell shock
shell suit
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
empty
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Database Database programs are often described as empty shell , content-free and cross-curricular software.
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I see increasing numbers of anemones and a couple of empty mussel shells .
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Your local dealer should have some empty shells for it to grow into.
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Even empty shells serve as some animals' homes.
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Do not buy snails from a tank containing empty shells or dead snails.
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Many are in parks and preserves, where those empty shells are safeguarded.
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Only the husk, the empty shell of what they'd come for.
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During the course of psychotherapy, it quickly became apparent to Tom that his marriage was a pretty empty shell .
hard
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Morris didn't seem lonely or isolated himself, but a hard shell was usually a sign of vulnerability underneath.
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But they have a hard outer shell .
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In addition to their hard shell , tortoises and turtles sometimes possess special protective refinements.
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The censure of her family was like a hard shell under which she found a certain freedom.
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This gentler self had been covered by a hard , outer shell .
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Soft-shelled crabs are blue crabs taken after the hard shell has been discarded and the new one is still soft.
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Holding it by the hard shell is safe enough, although a steady grip is recommended.
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She had a hard shell like an oyster.
outer
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This is trapped between the inner and outer shell with an insulating filling divided into compartments for greater efficiency.
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But they have a hard outer shell .
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The sticky nature of the outer shell may also facilitate passive spread of eggs.
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Materials: the outer shell is made from proofed nylon and the lining from cotton giving just that little extra comfort.
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He possibly held that the universe was slightly ovoid, with a crystalline outer shell to which the stars were attached.
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This gentler self had been covered by a hard, outer shell .
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Both jacket and salopettes are made of Parameta with a Pertex outer shell .
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The outer shells of the Buckau rotors sat on pivots that came to about two-thirds of their height.
thick
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A thicker shell presumably protects the snail better.
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If thicker shells are really better for the snail, why don't they have them anyway?
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Bivalves and tortoises have longer maximum lives than their relatives, perhaps because of the protection conferred by their thick shells .
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Burying it all under a thick shell of bluster, bullying, slavish adherence to protocol and discipline.
■ NOUN
artillery
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It was even more volatile than a hang-fire on an artillery shell .
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And underneath, lined up like artillery shells , are the tubes which fit in those caulking guns.
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What the Navy needs, critics say, is a ship that can fire lots of relatively inexpensive artillery shells .
game
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Life in the Lubetkin family was a perpetual shell game .
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It was a curious shell game in which each side thought it had the upper hand.
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The shell game which Dad had instigated so long ago had impoverished all three of us.
mortar
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The exploding mortar shell has a strength of 7.
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Rifle grenades, land mines, dynamite, antitank guns, mortar shells .
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The mortar shell explodes before it is fired.
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Unlike the solid cannon ball a mortar shell is hollow and filled with gunpowder.
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The crew light the fuse before dropping the mortar shell into the mortar.
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Hundreds of bullets were let loose - followed by tear-gas and even mortar shells - as protesters were cut down without mercy.
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A well placed mortar shell can therefore kill a great many victims at once.
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Now declare how far you want to fire the mortar shell .
pie
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Turn your mixture into the pie shell .
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When softened, spread the potatoes evenly over bottom and sides of the pans as for pie shells .
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Pour into 9-or 10-inch pre-baked, crimped pie shell .
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Margaret mixes dough and rolls out the pie shell .
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Place the cheese on the bottom of the pie shells .
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Spread it into cooled baked pie shell .
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Pile mixture into pie shell and garnish with reserved strawberries.
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Pour into two pie shells and bake for 15 minutes.
snail
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Similarly, insects and land snail shells are identified, sorted and quantified in the same way as animal and plant remains.
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And when I went to the museum on Gozo I discovered a block with a carved snail shell .
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I had an empty Apple Snail shell scrounged from my long-suffering dealer for just such an experiment.
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Sometimes you can find a Zebra flatworm sharing the snail shell with the hermit crab.
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Taken with other environmental indicators, such as land snail shells and insect remains, they also give information about the prevailing climate.
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We need to accept only that the change in snail shell is a fluke adaptation.
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Caddis houses helped us take the previous step; snail shells will help us take this one.
suit
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The youths, aged about 15, dressed in brightly shell suits were riding mountain bikes.
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The men are in shell suits and have moustaches.
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Even the humble sparkler can cause horrific injuries when combined with a highly flammable shell suit .
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He was wearing a blue and yellow shell suit top and light, almost bleached jeans.
■ VERB
fire
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The army plans later to fit Challenger with a new gun operating at even higher pressure and firing an improved shell .
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The best naval guns can fire a shell at about one kilometer per 148 second.
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Now declare how far you want to fire the mortar shell .
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When it got to that distance, I just stuck up the M79 and fired off a shotgun shell .
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The preliminary bombardment was the heaviest so far mounted: over two weeks 3,100 guns fired some 471/2 million shells .
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
retreat into yourself/your shell/fantasy etc
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I retreated into my shell, being painfully shy in the first place.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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a parka with a waterproof nylon shell
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clam shells
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Most buildings in the area are just burned-out shells.
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Pour the mixture into a prepared pie shell and bake at 375° for 45 minutes.
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Rebels fired mortar shells directly into the town square.
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shotgun shells
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taco shells
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The turtle poked its head out of its shell .
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Throw away any eggs with cracked shells.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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A shell had exploded in the body of one of them, tearing it to pieces; others were torn and wounded.
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Before knives and scissors were imported, they used a sharp shell .
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Despite their hardy shells they are delicate fishes and easily injured.
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Gunmen pumped dozens of rounds into Gutierrez, and more than 120 spent shells were found on the pavement, Anaya said.
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It is decorated with electric patterns of beads and shells and rests on wooden runners.
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Pour into two pie shells and bake for 15 minutes.
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Rain falls through the shell of the echoing house.
II. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
out
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And the fighter revealed he's shelling out £20,000 for sparring partners Mike Weaver and Tony Tubbs, both former world champions.
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And for this sort of performance, local taxpayers shell out roughly $ 360, 000 a year.
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In practice, they so mistrust the secrecy and alleged profligacy of Central Office that they refuse to shell out .
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But how readily will they shell out hundreds for a similar-sized piece of software?
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They wanted to get in the diocesan surveyor to have a look at it before they shelled out for repairs.
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If play improvements are only incremental, why shell out the cash to buy a 32-bit rig or an N64?
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They had difficulties in re-paying, he took their benefit book, and they ended up shelling out £450.
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He shelled out another $ 200.
■ NOUN
pea
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Many have never shelled a pea .
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We are peeling potatoes, forming tiny meatballs, browning chicken, shelling peas .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Add one pound of cooked, shelled shrimp.
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Border towns have been shelled by enemy aircraft for the past two months.
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British warships began shelling German positions along the coast.
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They targeted the area's most vital structures, shelling power plants and hospitals.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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And the possibility of further shelling was anything but remote in those days.
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For instance, the network has shelled out big bucks to snare Bill Cosby for a new sitcom in the fall.
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Others continue to shell out money.
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Shooting and shelling erupt sporadically from both sides.
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The complaint against them, it seems, is that they supplied the troops around Sarajevo who shelled and sniped at civilians.
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The forces of tyranny and aggression shelled the Mandali suburbs, Khurmal and Darband-e-Khan with long-range artillery.
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The site would be the Olympic stadium, which was heavily shelled but still stands.
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They're being bombed and shelled every day and night just as in Sarajevo.