shell
pronunciation
How to pronounce shell in British English:
UK [ʃel]
How to pronounce shell in American English:
US [ʃel]
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- Noun:
- ammunition consisting of a cylindrical metal casing containing an explosive charge and a projectile; fired from a large gun
- the material that forms the hard outer covering of many animals
- hard outer covering or case of certain organisms such as arthropods and turtles
- the hard usually fibrous outer layer of some fruits especially nuts
- the exterior covering of a bird's egg
- a rigid covering that envelops an object
- a very light narrow racing boat
- the housing or outer covering of something
- a metal sheathing of uniform thickness (such as the shield attached to an artillery piece to protect the gunners)
- the hard largely calcareous covering of a mollusc
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- Verb:
- use explosives on
- fall out of the pod or husk
- hit the pitches of hard and regularly
- look for and collect shells by the seashore
- come out better in a competition, race, or conflict
- remove from its shell or outer covering
- remove the husks from
Word Origin
- shell
- shell: [OE] Shell goes back ultimately to the Germanic base *skal- ‘divide, separate’, which also produced English scale, scalp, school (of fish), shale, shelter, shield, shoal (of fish), skill, and skol. Its underlying meaning is hence a ‘covering that splits off or is peeled off’. Its immediate Germanic ancestor was *skaljō, which also produced Dutch schel and Norwegian skjæl. Shellac [18] is a compound of shell and lac ‘lacquer, varnish’ (a word of Sanskrit origin, of which lacquer is a derivative), and is a direct translation of French laque en écailles ‘lac (melted) in thin plates’.=> scale, scalp, school, shale, shelter, shield, shoal, skill, skol
- shell (n.)
- Old English sciell, scill, Anglian scell "seashell, eggshell," related to Old English scealu "shell, husk," from Proto-Germanic *skaljo "piece cut off; shell; scale" (cognates: West Frisian skyl "peel, rind," Middle Low German schelle "pod, rind, egg shell," Gothic skalja "tile"), with the shared notion of "covering that splits off," from PIE root *(s)kel- (1) "to cut, cleave" (cognates: Old Church Slavonic skolika "shell," Russian skala "bark, rind;" see scale (n.1)). Italian scaglia "chip" is from Germanic. Sense of "mere exterior" is from 1650s; that of "hollow framework" is from 1791. Meaning "structure for a band or orchestra" is attested from 1938. Military use (1640s) was first of hand grenades, in reference to the metal case in which the gunpowder and shot were mixed; the notion is of a "hollow object" filled with explosives. Hence shell shock, first recorded 1915. Shell game "a swindle" is from 1890, from a version of three-card monte played with a pea and walnut shells.
- shell (v.)
- 1560s, "to remove (a nut, etc.) from a shell," from shell (n.). The meaning "to bombard with shells" is first attested 1856. To shell out "disburse" (1801) is a figurative use from the image of extracting nuts. Related: Shelled; shelling.
Synonym
outer oyster crust integument shuch coat peel theca epicarp testa husk exuviae involucre skin shield cloak carapace sheathing nautilus sheath jacket protection bark wrapping mollusk rind shell clam conch tegument chaff scallop coating periwinkle triton covering pod wrapper cortex casing mussel envelope hard hull
Example
- 1. This will only apply when working from a shell .
- 2. Pierre marcolini 's christmas shell pralines are a thing of wonder .
- 3. Palestinian sources said a single tank shell killed 12 other people in northern gaza .
- 4. Slowly , like a shell , the world opens and light floods in .
- 5. In libya , that means strikes on colonel muammar qaddafi 's ground forces if they start to shell towns .