# shell

Pronunciation: say "SHEL" /ʃɛl/

## Noun

1. The hard protective outer covering of certain animals, such as mollusks, crustaceans, turtles, and beetles, or of an egg, nut, or seed.
   - Simple: The hard outer part that covers and protects some animals, such as snails, crabs and turtles, or an egg or nut.
   - _The hermit crab outgrew its old shell and searched for a larger one._
   - _Mollusk shells are built up gradually in thin layers of calcium carbonate._
2. The outer covering, casing, or framework of an object or structure, considered apart from its contents or interior, as with the bare frame of a building.
   - Simple: The outside covering, case, or frame of something, apart from what is inside it.
   - _The car's sleek shell hides a fairly ordinary engine._
   - _Designers preserved the historic shell of the theater and gutted the interior._
5. An explosive projectile, or its metal casing, fired from a large gun such as a cannon, howitzer, or mortar.
   - Simple: A large metal case filled with explosives that is fired from a big gun and then blows up.
   - _The mortar shell whistled overhead before bursting in the open field._
   - _Each shell was timed to detonate above the enemy trenches._
6. The cartridge or round of ammunition for a breechloading firearm.
   - Simple: A case holding gunpowder and shot, loaded into a gun to fire one round.
   - _She slid a shell into the chamber and took aim._
   - _The hunter's pockets were full of spent shells._
8. A self-protective barrier that keeps a person from interacting with others.
   - Simple: A way of keeping to yourself and not letting other people get close.
   - _After the divorce, he retreated into a shell and rarely went out._
   - _A patient teacher can gently coax a shy child out of their shell._
9. The empty outward form that remains when the substance or vitality inside has gone.
   - Simple: What is left of someone or something when all the life or meaning inside is gone.
   - _Months of grief had reduced her to a hollow shell._
   - _Once a thriving business, the firm became an empty shell of its former self._
10. An operating-system interface whose main purpose is to launch other programs and interpret the user's commands.
   - Simple: A program that lets you type commands to control a computer and start other programs.
   - _Most Linux users interact with the system through a shell such as Bash._
   - _He wrote a short script to automate the task from his shell._
11. A legal entity that exists in name but carries on no real business operations.
   - Simple: A company that exists on paper but does no real business.
   - _The firm turned out to be a shell used to move money across borders._
   - _They acquired a dormant shell and used it to list on the stock exchange._
13. A mollusk that bears a hard external covering, such as a clam, oyster, or snail.
   - Simple: A small soft animal, like a clam or snail, that lives inside a hard outer covering.
   - _On the night dive, we watched a live cone shell slowly hunt a small fish._
   - _Divers are warned that a live cone shell can give a painful, even deadly, sting._
12. In an atom, the group of orbitals that all have one particular principal quantum number.
   - Simple: A layer where electrons move around the center of an atom.
   - _Electrons fill the innermost shell before occupying higher ones._
   - _Sodium has a single electron in its outermost shell._
14. The pod that contains the seeds of certain plants, such as the common bean.
   - Simple: The pod that holds the seeds of plants like beans and peas.
   - _After harvest, each shell was split open to release the beans inside._
   - _After shelling the peas, we tossed the empty green shells into the compost bin._
15. One of the outer papery layers of skin covering an onion.
   - Simple: A thin, dry piece of skin on the outside of an onion.
   - _He stripped the brittle shell from the onion and tossed it in the compost._
   - _The outer shells of the onions had dried to a crackly brown._
16. A long, light, very narrow rowing boat built for racing, once made of thin wood or paper and now usually of carbon composite.
   - Simple: A long, thin, light boat used for racing with oars.
   - _Eight rowers powered the slender shell down the racecourse._
   - _The crew lifted the shell from the water after the regatta._
17. A women's garment such as a sleeveless or short-sleeved blouse or top, often fastening in the rear.
   - Simple: A simple top for women with short sleeves or none, often fastened at the back.
   - _She paired a fitted shell with tailored pants for the interview._
   - _The boutique stocked sleeveless shells in every color of the season._

## Verb

3. To bombard a target by firing projectiles at it, especially with artillery.
   - Simple: To attack a place by firing many big guns at it.
   - _Artillery units shelled the bridge to stop the advance._
   - _Warships began to shell the coastal defenses at first light._
4. To hand over or pay out money, often reluctantly. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To pay money for something, often when you would rather not.
   - _Fans shelled out hundreds of dollars for front-row seats._
   - _You'll have to shell out a lot to fix a roof that old._
7. To strip something of its shell or other outer casing.
   - Simple: To take the hard outer covering off of something.
   - _She shelled a whole bowl of fresh peas for dinner._
   - _Workers shell the nuts by machine at the processing plant._
18. To cast off the outer covering, or to fall out of the pod or husk, as ripe grain or seeds do.
   - Simple: To drop out of the pod or husk, the way ripe seeds do.
   - _If the harvest is delayed, the grain will shell and scatter across the ground._
   - _Ripe beans shell from their pods at the slightest touch._
19. To break away and fall off, as a shell, crust, or outer layer does.
   - Simple: To break away and drop off, the way a crust or hard layer does.
   - _If the glaze and clay shrink at different rates, the glaze may shell off around the rim of the pot._
   - _After years of hard frost, the face of the old garden statue began to shell off in thin, curling flakes._

## Other meanings

- (noun) The husks of cacao beans, boiled to make a drink that stands in for cocoa or is mixed into chocolate products to cheapen them.
- (noun) A cheap, flimsy coffin, or a light inner one placed within a sturdier outer coffin.
- (noun) A plain, unmarked vehicle used to remove bodies from the scene of a crime.
- (noun) A lyre or similar stringed instrument with a shell-shaped sound box.
- (noun) A copper roller engraved with a design, used to print patterns on cloth.
- (noun) The thin copper layer deposited to form the printing face of an electrotype.
- (noun) The outer casing of a pulley block, holding the grooved wheels that turn inside.
- (noun) A person who has become extremely thin and wasted.
- (noun) A rough, hollow iron tool used for grinding a lens into its curved shape.
- (noun) A drill bit shaped like a split tube with a curved cutting edge, also known as a gouge bit.
- (noun) In phonology, a syllable's onset and coda taken together, that is, all of it except the nucleus at its center.
- (noun) The human ear.
- (noun) At some British public schools, a class or group of classes partway through secondary schooling.
- (noun) In formal debating, rules put forward for a round, each paired with a fixed penalty for breaking it.
- (verb) To drop out of a program to a command-line interface.
- (verb) To develop shallow, uneven cracks, said of a surface coating such as paint.
- (verb) To fail to hold on to a ball and let it fall.

## Origin

A Proto-Indo-European root *(s)kelH-, meaning "to split, cleave," led to Proto-Germanic *skaljō, then Old English sċiell and Middle English schelle. Dutch schil ("peel, skin") and Low German Schell ("shell, scale") are related. In computing, the name reflects a view of the shell as the outer interface layer that sits between the user and the inner workings of the operating system.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/shell (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).