Definitions
1.nounA hard external covering of an animal.
2.nounThe hard calcareous covering of a bird egg.
3.nounOne of the outer layers of skin of an onion."The restaurant served caramelized onion shells."
4.nounThe hard external covering of various plant seed forms.
5.nounThe accreted mineral formed around a hollow geode.
6.nounThe casing of a self-contained single-unit artillery projectile.
7.nounA hollow, usually spherical or cylindrical projectile fired from a siege mortar or a smoothbore cannon. It contains an explosive substance designed to be ignited by a fuse or by percussion at the target site so that it will burst and scattered at high velocity its contents and fragments. Formerly called a bomb.
8.nounThe cartridge of a breechloading firearm; a load; a bullet; a round.
9.nounAny slight hollow structure; a framework, or exterior structure, regarded as not complete or filled in, as the shell of a house.
10.nounA garment, usually worn by women, such as a shirt, blouse, or top, with short sleeves or no sleeves, that often fastens in the rear.
11.nounA coarse or flimsy coffin; a thin interior coffin enclosed within a more substantial one.
12.nounA string instrument, as a lyre, whose acoustical chamber is formed like a shell."The first lyre may have been made by drawing strings over the underside of a tortoise shell."
13.nounThe body of a drum; the often wooden, often cylindrical acoustic chamber, with or without rims added for tuning and for attaching the drum head.
14.nounAn engraved copper roller used in print works.
15.nounThe thin coating of copper on an electrotype.
16.nounThe watertight outer covering of the hull of a vessel, often made with planking or metal plating.
17.noun(rigging) The outer frame or case of a block within which the sheaves revolve.
18.nounA light boat whose frame is covered with thin wood, impermeable fabric, or water-proofed paper; a racing shell or dragon boat.
19.nounA set of atomic orbitals that have the same principal quantum number.
20.nounThe outward form independent of what is inside.
21.nounThe empty outward form of someone or something."The setback left him a mere shell; he was never the same again."
22.nounAn emaciated person."He's lost so much weight from illness; he's a shell of his former self."
23.nounA psychological barrier to social interaction."Even after months of therapy he's still in his shell."
24.nounAn operating system software user interface, whose primary purpose is to launch other programs and control their interactions; the user's command interpreter. Shell is a way to separate the internal complexity of the implementation of the command from the user. The internals can change while the user experience/interface remains the same."The name "Bash" is an acronym which stands for "Bourne-again shell", itself a pun on the name of the "Bourne shell", an earlier Unix shell designed by Stephen Bourne, and the Christian concept of being "born again"."
25.nounA legal entity that has no operations."A shell corporation was formed to acquire the old factory."
26.nounA concave rough cast-iron tool in which a convex lens is ground to shape.
27.nounA gouge bit or shell bit.
28.nounThe onset and coda of a syllable.
29.nounA person's ear."Can I have a quick word in your shell?"
30.verbTo remove the outer covering or shell of something.
31.verbTo bombard, to fire projectiles at, especially with artillery.
32.verbTo disburse or give up money, to pay. (Often used with out).
33.verbTo fall off, as a shell, crust, etc.
34.verbTo cast the shell, or exterior covering; to fall out of the pod or husk."Nuts shell in falling."
35.verbTo switch to a shell or command line.
36.verbTo form shallow, irregular cracks (in a coating).
37.verbTo form a shelling.