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shell Definition

shell (s̸hel)

noun

  1. a hard outer covering, as of a turtle, mollusk, insect, egg, fruit, seed, etc.
  2. something like or suggestive of a shell in being hollow, empty, or simply a covering or framework, as the hull of a boat, a hollow pastry or unfilled pie crust, the framework of a building, a structure with an arched or hemispherical roof or back, a tapered beer glass, etc.
  3. a shy, reserved, or uncommunicative attitude or manner to come out of one's shell
  4. ☆ a woman's simple sleeveless blouse or sweater
  5. ☆ a long, narrow, thin-hulled racing boat rowed usually by a team of oarsmen
  6. an explosive artillery projectile containing high explosives and sometimes shrapnel, chemicals, etc.
  7. ☆ a cartridge for small arms or small artillery, consisting of a metal, paper, or plastic case holding the primer, powder charge, and shot or bullet
  8. a pyrotechnic cartridge which explodes high in the air
    1. a mollusk
    2. shellfish
  10. Chem., Physics
    1. any of the spherical or elliptical orbits of electrons around the nucleus of an atom, each with the same principal quantum number and about the same energy
    2. the space taken up by such an orbit
    3. a grouping of like nucleons of approximately the same energy in the nucleus

Etymology: ME schelle < OE sciel, akin to MDu schelle < IE base *(s)kel-: see shelf

transitive verb

  1. to remove the shell or covering from; take out of the shell to shell peas, oysters, etc.
  2. to separate kernels or grains of (corn, wheat, etc.) from the cob or ear
  3. to fire shells at from a large gun or guns; bombard

intransitive verb

  1. to separate from the shell or covering peanuts shell easily
  2. to fall, slough, or peel off, as a shell
  3. ☆ to gather or collect shells

shell Related Forms
shell′·-like′ adjective shell′y adjective
shell Idioms

shell out

Informal to pay out (money)

shell Synonyms

shell

n.

  1. A shell-like cover or structure

    husk, crust, nut, pod, case, pericarp, scale, shard, theca, integument, eggshell, carapace, plastron.

  2. An explosive projectile

    bullet, projectile, casing, cartridge; see bullet. see also weapon 1.

    Varieties include: armor-piercing, blind-loaded, high-explosive, anti-personnel, artillery shell, cannon shell, common, deck-piercing, torpedo, shrapnel, antiaircraft;

  3. A crustaceous covering

    carapace, sea shell, test. see also seashell.

    Varieties include: tortoise, crustacean, conch, snail;

shell Synonyms

shell

v.

strip, break off, remove the kernel, shuck, shell off, peel off, exfoliate, husk.

Shell Hacker Definition
The default command-line interface on UNIX systems.

See Also: UNIX.

shell Usage Examples

Object

  • ameba: Unlike in fresh water, shelled ameba which build rigid ' houses ' with organic debris, are not present in marine samples.

Converse of object

  • deplete: News that depleted uranium shells were fired in Britain was announced many years ago.
  • explode: Eventually an exploding shell was developed but most of the Union ships were incapable of being fitted with the type of armament required.

Adjective modifier

  • outer: Most current helmets are basically all EPS foam with a thin plastic outer shell.
  • coconut: Thu 18 May 2006 How can I reuse or recycle ⦠coconut shells?
  • empty: Yes, at last, behind the empty shell of an old valve wireless, she spied the oil lamp.
  • unexploded: Conflicts leave behind debris which can include unexploded artillery shells, anti-vehicle mines, grenades, mortars, rockets and air-delivered bombs.
  • crushed: Large spreads of burnt seaweed ash and crushed shell may have come from a white tanning agent used to make vellum.
  • explosive: What it is not is a steel shard resulting from the explosion of a high explosive shell.

Modifies a noun

  • script: Use in a shell script to read from the keyboard.
  • splinter: They are not, however, " shrapnel " - they are " shell splinters.
  • variable: To discover this we'll use a special shell variable which is already supplied for us.
  • command: Unlike some previous shells, commands run from a file of shell commands have no access to the text of the commands by default.

Noun used with modifier

  • artillery: The hull is an entire coral reef in its own right, artillery shells now fused into the coral masses.
  • oyster: Some calcium is made from ground up oyster shells.
  • scallop: A scallop shell niche below the arch contains a ribboned wreath around a cross.
  • conch: Conch shell, whelk shell or sharks ' teeth may also be used.
  • login: Login shells catch the terminate signal; other- wise this signal is passed on to children from the state in the shell's parent.
  • snail: From snail shells to washing machines, to fingertips, to the insides of our ears.

Preposition: of

  • crustacean: It is also essential for the hardening of the chitinous shell of crustaceans.
shell Quotes

Every book is like a purge; at the end of it one is empty†likea dryshell onthebeach, waiting for thetide to come in again.

—du Maurier, Dame Daphne

I know not what I mayappear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.

—Newton, Sir Isaac

He cultivated to perfection the sneer which he used like an oyster-knife, inserting it into the shell of his victim, exposing him with a quick-turn of the wrist, and finally flipping him over and inviting his audience to discard him as tainted and inedible.

—Annan, Noe«  l Gilroy, Baron

And what you thought you came for Is onlya shell, a husk of meaning From which the purpose breaks only when it is fulfilled If at all. Either you had no purpose Or the purpose is beyond the end you figured And is altered in fulfilment.

—Eliot,T(homas) S(tearns)

The skin and shell of things Though fair are not Thy wish nor prayer but got My meer despair of wings.

—Vaughan, Henry

Sweet Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'st unseen Within thy airy shell By slow meander's margent green, And in the violet-embroidered vale.

—Milton,John