Definition Definition

shell - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'shell' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Shell [ n.]
- A hard outside covering, as of a fruit or an animal.
- The covering, or outside part, of a nut; as, a hazelnut shell.
- A pod.
- The hard covering of an egg.
- 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.
- Hence, by extension, any mollusks having such a covering.
- 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.
- The case which holds the powder, or charge of powder and shot, used with breechloading small arms.
- Any slight hollow structure; a framework, or exterior structure, regarded as not complete or filled in; as, the shell of a house.
- A coarse kind of coffin; also, a thin interior coffin inclosed in a more substantial one.
- An instrument of music, as a lyre, -- the first lyre having been made, it is said, by drawing strings over a tortoise shell.
- An engraved copper roller used in print works.
- The husks of cacao seeds, a decoction of which is often used as a substitute for chocolate, cocoa, etc.
- The outer frame or case of a block within which the sheaves revolve.
- A light boat the frame of which is covered with thin wood or with paper; as, a racing shell.
2 . Shell [ v. i.]
- To fall off, as a shell, crust, etc.
- To cast the shell, or exterior covering; to fall out of the pod or husk; as, nuts shell in falling.
- To be disengaged from the ear or husk; as, wheat or rye shells in reaping.
3 . Shell [ v. t.]
- 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.
- To separate the kernels of (an ear of Indian corn, wheat, oats, etc.) from the cob, ear, or husk.
- To throw shells or bombs upon or into; to bombard; as, to shell a town.

Meaning of 'shell' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . shell [ n]
Meaning (1):
- the housing or outer covering of something
Example in sentence:
  • the clock has a walnut case
Meaning (2):
- a rigid covering that envelops an object
Example in sentence:
  • the satellite is covered with a smooth shell of ice
3 . shell [ v]
Meaning (3):
- come out better in a competition, race, or conflict
Example in sentence:
  • Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship;
  • Harvard defeated Yale in the last football game;
  • We beat the competition
Meaning (4):
- create by using explosives
Example in sentence:
  • blast a passage through the mountain
Meaning (5):
- hit the pitches of hard and regularly
Example in sentence:
  • He shelled the pitcher for eight runs in the first inning
Meaning (6):
- remove the husks from
Example in sentence:
  • husk corn
Meaning (7):
- remove from its shell or outer covering
Example in sentence:
  • shell mussels;
  • shell the legumes
Meaning (8):
- fall out of the pod or husk
Example in sentence:
  • The corn shelled
Meaning (9):
- use explosives on
Example in sentence:
  • The enemy has been shelling us all day