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