SHELL

noun a pod.

2. shell ·vi to fall off, as a shell, crust, ·etc.

3. shell ·add. ·noun a gouge bit or shell bit.

4. shell ·noun an engraved copper roller used in print works.

5. shell ·add. ·noun a torpedo.

6. shell ·noun the hard covering of an egg.

7. shell ·noun hence, by extension, any mollusks having such a covering.

8. shell ·noun the covering, or outside part, of a nut; as, a hazelnut shell.

9. shell ·noun the outer frame or case of a block within which the sheaves revolve.

10. shell ·noun a hard outside covering, as of a fruit or an animal.

11. shell ·add. ·noun something similar in form or action to an ordnance shell;.

12. shell ·vi to be disengaged from the ear or husk; as, wheat or rye shells in reaping.

13. shell ·noun a coarse kind of coffin; also, a thin interior coffin inclosed in a more substantial one.

14. shell ·add. ·noun a concave rough cast-iron tool in which a convex lens is ground to shape.

15. shell ·noun a light boat the frame of which is covered with thin wood or with paper; as, a racing shell.

xvi. shell ·vt to throw shells or bombs upon or into; to bombard; as, to shell a town.

xvii. shell ·noun the case which holds the powder, or charge of powder and shot, used with breechloading small arms.

xviii. shell ·vt to separate the kernels of (an ear of indian corn, wheat, oats, ·etc.) from the cob, ear, or husk.

xix. shell ·vi to cast the shell, or exterior covering; to fall out of the pod or husk; as, nuts shell in falling.

xx. shell ·noun the husks of cacao seeds, a decoction of which is often used as a substitute for chocolate, cocoa, ·etc.

xxi. shell ·vt 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.

xxii. shell ·noun an instrument of music, as a lyre, — the first lyre having been made, it is said, by drawing strings over a tortoise shell.

xxiii. shell ·noun any slight hollow structure; a framework, or exterior structure, regarded as not complete or filled in; as, the shell of a house.

xxiv. shell ·add. ·noun 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.

xxv. shell ·noun 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.

xxvi. shell ·noun 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.