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单词 shell
释义

shelln.

Brit. /ʃɛl/, U.S. /ʃɛl/
Forms: Old English sciell, scel(l, scill, scyll, Middle English schele, scell, chelle, s(c)hill, ( schyl-), Middle English schelle, schylle, Middle English–1500s schell, shelle, ( schel-), Middle English–1600s shel, Middle English shylle, schull(e, 1600s shul, 1800s dialect shill, shull, Middle English– shell.
Etymology: Old English sciell , scill , Anglian scell (feminine) = West Frisian skyl peel, rind, eggshell, North Frisian skel , skal seashell, (Middle) Low German schelle , schille pod, rind, fish-scale, eggshell, Middle Dutch schelle , schille shell, pod, bark, rind, plural scurf (Dutch schel , schil ), Old Norse skel seashell (Norwegian skjæl ), Gothic skalja tile < Germanic *skaljō , < *skal- , for other derivatives of which see scale n.1, scale n.2, shale n.1 Compare skell n.1, < Old Norse.
I. The hard outside covering of an animal, a fruit, etc.
1.
a. The calcareous or chitinous outer covering of crustaceans, molluscs, and other invertebrates.See also cockleshell n., mussel shell n., oyster shell n., scallop-shell n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > covering or skin > [noun] > hard or protective covering > shell of an egg or fish
shellc725
shella900
eggshellc1300
shale1561
c725 Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) C 863 Conca, musclan scel.
a1100 Aldhelm Glosses i. 447 in A. S. Napier Old Eng. Glosses (1900) 13/2 Conca, musclan scille.
c1430 Two Cookery-bks. 24 Pyke owt þe Muskele of þe schulle.
c1480 (a1400) St. Placidus 518 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 84 Ȝet wes lewit hym [sc. Job] a schele to schrape his scabbis rycht snel.
?a1500 Nominale (Yale Beinecke 594) in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 765/27 Hec testa, a schylle.
1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Loue in Wks. G. Chaucer i. f. cccxxviiiv A muskel in a blewe shel.
c1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) v. 33 Mussillis in schellis.
1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear v. 25 Canst tell how an Oyster makes his shell . View more context for this quotation
a1631 J. Donne Poems (1654) 38 Let others freez with angling reeds, And cut their legs, with shels and weeds.
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 112. ⁋3 They used to gather up Shells on the Sea-Shore.
1709 London Gaz. No. 4510/7 About 14000 Oysters in the Shells.
a1728 J. Woodward Attempt Nat. Hist. Fossils Eng. (1729) ii. 24 Two Nautiloides, or Bodies form'd in Shells of the Nautilus.
1834 H. McMurtrie tr. G. Cuvier Animal Kingdom (abridged ed.) 272 All the Brachiopoda are invested with bivalve shells, fixed and immoveable.
1834 H. McMurtrie tr. G. Cuvier Animal Kingdom (abridged ed.) 468 The..Sea-Urchins..have the body invested by a shell or calcareous crust.
1845 J. Phillips & C. G. B. Daubeny Geol. in Encycl. Metrop. VI. 684/2 The small bivalve crustaceous shells of cypris.
1870 G. Rolleston Forms Animal Life 47 The thickness of the Gasteropodous shell diminishes from its free rim upwards.
1895 C. Kernahan God & Ant (ed. 4) Apol. 10 As the grain of sand, which has found its way into his shell, vexes and irks the oyster.
b. Allusive uses, with reference to: (a) The formation of pearls within the shells of molluscs. (b) The association of a shell with persons of classical mythology (e.g. Venus Anadyomene). (c) The sound of the sea heard when a round-lipped shell is placed with the mouth to one's ear.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > resonance or sonority > [noun] > resonant sound > in a shell
shell1390
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Pelecypoda or Conchifera > [noun] > bivalves > that produces pearls > shell
shell1390
(a)
1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis III. 346 He hath noght elles, Nomor the perles than the schelles.
1447 O. Bokenham Lyvys Seyntys (1835) 2 A margerye perle aftyr the phylosophyr Growyth on a shelle of lytyl pryhs.]
1611 B. Jonson Catiline i. sig. D Her Women weare The spoiles of Nations, in an eare, Chang'd for the treasure of a shell . View more context for this quotation
1813 W. Scott Bridal of Triermain iii. xxvi. 172 See these pearls,..These were tears by Naiads wept..Tritons in the silver shell Treasured them.]
1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam li. 74 Thy wealth is gathered in, When Time hath sunder'd shell from pearl. View more context for this quotation
(b)1637 J. Milton Comus 9 Sweet echo, sweetest Nymph that liv'st unseene Within thy ayrie shell.1685 J. Dryden Albion & Albanius i. sig. C2v Venus in her shell.1823 Ld. Byron Island ii. vii. 25 A form like Aphrodite's in her shell.(c)1814 W. Wordsworth Excursion iv. 192 Even such a Shell the Universe itself Is to the ear of Faith. View more context for this quotation
c. A fashion shade of delicate pink, shell pink.
ΚΠ
1923 Daily Mail 28 May 2 Shades: Ivory, Champ., Shell, Primrose.
1923 Daily Mail 16 July 2 In Ivory, Biscuit, Shell, Coral.
2. A shell of this kind (or a vessel resembling one) used for a specific purpose.
a. = scallop n. 1c.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > pilgrim's garb > items of attire > [noun] > token > shell
shell1362
scallop?a1400
cockleshell1488
scallop-shell1530
Jacob's shell1757
cockle1962
1362 W. Langland Piers Plowman A. vi. 12 Signes of Synay and Schelles of Galys.
1507 in E. Hobhouse Church-wardens' Accts. (1890) 64 iij schellys of Seynt Iame.
b. Used as a target. Scottish, chiefly with indecent allusion (cf. Latin concha = cunnus).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > sex organs > female sex organs > [noun]
cuntc1230
quivera1382
chosec1386
privy chosea1387
quoniamc1405
naturec1470
shell1497
box1541
water gate1541
mouth1568
quiver case1568
water gap1586
cunnya1593
medlar1597
mark1598
buggle-boo1600
malkin1602
lap1607
skin coat1611
quim1613
nest1614
watermilla1626
bum1655
merkin1656
twat1656
notch1659
commodity1660
modicum1660
crinkum-crankum1670
honeypot1673
honour1688
muff1699
pussy1699
puss1707
fud1771
jock1790
cock?1833
fanny?1835
vaginac1890
rug1893
money-maker1896
Berkeley1899
Berkeley Hunt1899
twitchet1899
mingea1903
snatch1904
beaver1927
coozie1934
Sir Berkeley1937
pocketbook1942
pranny1949
zatch1950
cooch1955
bearded clam1962
noonie1966
chuff1967
coozea1968
carpet1981
pum-pum1983
front bum1985
coochie1986
punani1987
front bottom1991
va-jay-jay2000
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > competitive shooting > archery > [noun] > archery target
bercelc1440
butt1440
shell1497
rover1511
standing pricka1525
round1531
popinjay1548
prick-mark1553
Turk1569
twelve (also twenty-four) score prick1569
garden butt1572
parrot1578
clout1584
hoyle1614
shaw-fowl1621
prick wanda1650
goal1662
1497 in T. Dickson Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1877) I. 360 Item, to the king, to schut at the schell..xvjd.
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 86 He that..schuttis syne at ane vncow schell..He wirkis sorrow to him sell.
1536 D. Lindsay Answer to Kingis Flyting 45 Tholand ȝow rin schutand frome schell to schell.
a1568 Bannatyne MS (Hunterian Club) 392 Few honour wynnis in to that innys For schutting at the schellis.
c. plural. Seashells used as money. (Cf. cowrie n.)
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > other mediums of exchange > [noun] > shells
shell1600
cowrie1662
porcelainc1665
cowrie shell1817
bouge1875
1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. vii. 288 In matters of smal value they use certaine shels brought hither out of the Kingdome of Persia, fower hundred of which shels are worth a ducate.
1732 T. Lediard tr. J. Terrasson Life Sethos II. vii. 65 An office of exchange to receive the shells of foreign savages.
†d. A drinking vessel.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > containers for drink > drinking vessel > [noun]
chalicec825
napeOE
copc950
fullOE
cupc1000
canOE
shalec1075
scalec1230
maselin?a1300
mazer1311
richardine1352
dish1381
fiole1382
pece1383
phialc1384
gobletc1400
bowl-cup1420
chalice-cup1420
crusec1420
mazer-cup1434
goddard1439
stoup1452
bicker1459
cowl1476
tankard1485
stop1489
hanapa1513
skull1513
Maudlin cup1544
Magdalene cup?a1549
mazer bowl1562
skew1567
shell1577
godet1580
mazard1584
bousing-can1590
cushion1594
glove1609
rumkin1636
Maudlin pot1638
Pimlico1654
mazer dish1656
mug1664
tumbler1664
souce1688
streaker1694
ox-eye1703
false-cup1708
tankard-cup1745
poculum1846
phiale1867
tumbler-cup1900
stem-cup1915
sippy cup1986
1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. I. ii. x. sig. Q.ij/2 Some menne there are, which..swallowe..deintie hearbe brothes,..not out of a cup, but out of a shell.
1773 J. Boswell Jrnl. 5 Oct. in Jrnl. Tour Hebrides (1785) 359 Whisky was served round in a shell, according to the ancient Highland custom.
e. A mussel-shell containing pigment to be used by mixing with gum.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > equipment for painting or drawing > [noun] > containers for paints
shell1565
paintbox1725
colour box1749
paint pot1792
pochade box1954
1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus at Concha Conchæ, shelles wherin peynters putte theyr colours.
1665 R. Hooke Micrographia 75 Those several colours they lay on their Shels or Palads.
1666 W. Spurstowe Σατανα Νοηματα 12 in Spiritual Chymist As a Painter doth his many Colours, that lye..before him in their several Shells.
1895 Army & Navy Co-op. Soc. Price List 668 Colours for Illuminating... Tube of Enamel White, Gold Shell, Aluminium Shell.
f. = conch n. 3.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > signalling > audible signalling > signalling with other sounding instruments > [noun] > signal on conch-shell > conch as instrument of call
shell1637
conch-shell1697
conch1764
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > wind instrument > horn > [noun] > conch-shell
shell1637
conch-shell1697
conch1764
Pope-horn1772
1637 J. Milton Comus 30 By scalie Tritons winding shell.
1699 J. Potter Archæologiæ Græcæ II. iii. ix. 86 Shells of Fishes.., which they sounded in the manner of Trumpets.]
1823 Ld. Byron Island ii. ii. 20 Ere Fiji blew the shell of war.
3. As a rendering of Greek ὄστρακον, the potsherd or tile used in the ostracism n. of the ancient Greeks.The ὄστρακον has been frequently taken by modern writers for an oyster-shell.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabiting temporarily > exile or state of > [noun] > temporary > by writing names on potsherds > potsherd used in
shell1565
1538 T. Elyot Dict. Ostracismus,..whyche exyle was doone by delyuerynge of oyster shelles.]
1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus Ostracismus, a kinde of banishment amonge the Athenians for .x. yeres space, whiche was done by deliuerynge of shelles with the names of the persons condemned wryten in them.
1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 357 At a certaine day appointed, euery citizen caried a great shell in his hande, whereupon he wrote the name of him he woulde haue banished.
1715 A. Pope Temple of Fame 19 Here triumphs He whom Athens did expel, In all things Just, but when he sign'd the Shell.
1770 J. Langhorne & W. Langhorne tr. Nicias in Plutarch Lives III. 389 The shell was not designed for such wretches as he.
a1831 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) IX. 365/1 If the name of any person was found to be written on six thousand tiles or shells [etc.].
4. plural. Burnt limestone before it is slaked. †in shells: unslaked.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > lime materials > [noun] > quicklime
quicklimea1400
calx1581
lime-chalk1637
roche lime1721
shells1743
sharp lime1772
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > lime materials > [adjective] > slaked > not
unsleckedc1386
unquenched?c1425
unsleaked1526
unblushed?1548
unslaked1598
unslissed1598
unslacked1656
unslake1660
whole-stone1703
in shells1799
1743 Sel. Trans. Soc. Improvers Knowl. Agric. Scotl. 191 Shells will weigh about 25 Stone-weight the Boll.
1793 J. Sinclair Statist. Acct. Scotl. VI. 202 To strong land they give from 40 to 70 bolls of lime shells to the Scotch acre.
1799 J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Perth 282 The farmers endeavour to carry it in shells, while the water is dissipated and the lime light.
1812 J. Sinclair Acct. Syst. Husbandry Scotl. i. 178 [He] brings his lime from the kiln, lays it in small heaps, about a firlot of shells in each heap.
1884 F. J. Lloyd Sci. Agric. The lumps of burnt and unslaked limestone are known as shells.
5. Used as the second element of the name of a particular shellfish, as acorn-shell, razor-shell; hence (chiefly plural) = shellfish, in referring to classificatory groups.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Mollusca > [noun] > mollusc or shell-fish
shellfishc888
oyster1419
cochle?1527
shale-fish1596
scale-fish1601
shell1751
ox-heart1753
mollusc1783
molluscum1832
molluscan1835
polybranchian1839
coquillage1851
whale-feed1853
siphonate1877
scungille1953
1751 Chambers's Cycl. (ed. 7) Balani... They are commonly called in English, centre-shells.
1840 E. Blyth et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom 386 The Balanus or Acorn-Shells.
1858 W. Baird Cycl. Nat. Sci. at Mollusca Conchifera, or ordinary bivalve shells, which breathe by two pairs of gills.
6.
a. The hard outer calcareous envelope of a bird's egg. ( †in the shell, of an egg, boiled.) Also, the similar integument of the eggs of other creatures. Cf. eggshell n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > covering or skin > [noun] > hard or protective covering > shell of an egg or fish
shellc725
shella900
eggshellc1300
shale1561
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > cooking > [adjective] > cooked (of specific food) > eggs
rearlOE
harda1425
poachedc1450
soft-boiled1577
hard-boiled1589
rare1655
rath egg1684
in the shell1692
dropped1824
rumpled1896
a900 Old Eng. Martyrol. 18 Mar. 40 Se rodor ymbfehð..sæ & eorðan, swa seo scell utan ymbfehð þæt æg.
13.. K. Alis. 571 An ay he laide, so he fleygh,.. That tobrak, Y yow telle: A dragon crep out of the schelle.
1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (Bodl.) xii. i The chikenes comeþ forþe of þe schelle alyue and fulle schape.
c1430 Two Cookery-bks. 41 Take Eyroun, & blow owt þat ys with-ynne..þan waysshe þe schulle clene.
1599 J. Davies Nosce Teipsum 99 When the shell is broke, out comes a chick.
1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden xlii When her food begins once to appear she [the silkworm] comes forth of her shel.
1692 T. Tryon Good House-wife (ed. 2) x. 83 Eggs boyled in the Shells.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 107 The Turtle's Eggs, which I roasted in the Ashes, and eat, as we call it, in the Shell.
1864 Englishw. in India 173 Beat the whites of the eggs in a basin... Crush the shells and add them with the wine.
b. in the shell: (of an egg or a bird, etc.) unhatched; also figurative, in embryo.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > family unit > [adverb] > unhatched
in the shell1609
the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > unpreparedness > unprepared [phrase] > in an immature state
in the blade1584
in the shell1609
in the rougha1649
on the musta1661
1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida i. ii. 130 If you loue an addle egge as well as you loue an idle head you would eate chickens ith shell. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) ii. i. 34 Thinke him as a Serpents egge,.. And kill him in the shell . View more context for this quotation
1638 W. Chillingworth Relig. Protestants i. ii. §101. 91 Some yet are Embrio's, yet hatching, and in the shell; as the Popes infallibility.
1649 Bp. J. Taylor Great Exemplar iii. xvi. 179 Corn for ever in the blade, egges alwaies in the shell.
a1659 F. Osborne Observ. Turks in Wks. (1673) 278 By the heat of Religion many Vertues are hatched, and more Vices stifled in the shell.
1883 S. C. Hall Retrospect Long Life II. 71 Embryo poets and artists in the shell.
1897 Advance (Chicago) 25 Feb. 242/1 As a writer he is full grown..but as an evolutionist he is still in the shell.
c. In figurative phrases referring to emergence into life; esp. in out of one's shell (with a negative).
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > adult > [adverb]
out of one's shell1551
maturely1630
adultly?1742
society > society and the community > social relations > [noun] > participation in
out of one's shell1551
meshing1967
1551 T. Wilson Rule of Reason sig. Ovijv In this worlde a child shal scant be out of his shel, but he shalbe suer to one or other.
1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares f. 41v My young nouice..not yet crept out of the shell.
1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares f. 62v If at the first peeping out of the shell, a young Student sets not a graue face on it.
1599 Master Broughtons Lett. Answered viii. 27 Those the..Archbishop..vnfolded..at Cambridge, before thou wert crept out of thy Alphabeticall shell.
1670 R. Baxter Cure Church-div. 4 The pride of those that run with the shell on their head into the Ministry.
1808 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. (at cited word) You're scarcely out of the shell yet; a phrase applied to young persons, to those especially who affect something beyond their years.
1837 R. Browning Strafford ii. i. 34 Puritan. His fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. Fiennes. Shall be? It chips the shell, man; peeps abroad.
7.
a. = nutshell n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > fruit or reproductive product > nut > [noun] > nutshell
nutshalec1275
shellc1330
bark1377
nutshella1400
nut-housing?c1475
nut skin1648
putamen1793
c1330 R. Mannyng Chron. Wace (Rolls) 14683 Luytel notes þey toke, & holede þem, þe kerneles out schoke; þey dide y þe schelles fyr & tunder.
1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (Bodl.) xvii. cviii Aschelle oþer aschale þt waxiþ harder & harder & þer wtin is þe notte curnel.
c1400 Rom. Rose 7117 As moche as..The sunne sourmounteth the mone,..And the note kernelle the shelle.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 315 The halfe shelles of almonds.
a1691 R. Boyle Gen. Hist. Air (1692) 178 Almonds of a tender Shell.
1699 W. Dampier Voy. & Descr. i. viii. 152 About 100 Nutmegs, which had the Shells on as they grew on the Trees.
proverbial.a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 23828 Þaire speche is noȝt worþ a shelle [Vesp. noght a nute-scell].1577 J. Grange Golden Aphroditis sig. Iiijv I see the prouerbe is true: who wil the curnell of the nut must breake the shell.1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Nulle noix sans coque, no nut without a shell.
b. figurative and in figurative context. (See also shall n.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > [noun] > the outside or exterior > external aspect as opposed to internal
rindeOE
barkc1374
shell1377
husk1567
cortex1660
swarth1807
without1899
1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. xi. 252 After þat bitter barke (be þe shelle aweye), Is a kirnelle of conforte.
1611 M. Smith in Bible (King James) Transl. Pref. ⁋5 Translation it is.. that breaketh the shell, that we may eat the kernel.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 490 All are vaine-glorious, and seeke rather the shell then the kernell, the shew then the substance of holinesse.
1621 W. Laud Diary 3 June He [the King] was pleased to say, he had given me nothing but [the Deanery of] Gloucester, which he well knew was a shell without a kernel.
1650 T. Hubbert Pilula 22 Forms are more contended for, then power,..shel more then kernel.
c. The fibre-covered envelope of a coco-nut.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > edible nuts or nut-trees > [noun] > coconut > shell
shell1638
1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) 29 The Coco..is cover'd with a thick rynd,..the shell is like the skull of man.
1768 A. Rose Let. 20 Sept. in Philos. Trans. 1770 (Royal Soc.) (1771) 60 445 Their chief instrument being a large cocoa nut-shell, strung with guts.
1838 E. B. Browning Rom. Ganges iv Of shell of coco carven, Each little boat is made.
1891 R. H. Codrington Melanesians xvi. 316 The cream squeezed out from grated cocoa-nut was often cooked over the embers in the shells.
8.
a. The outer covering of a seed, etc.; a husk, pod (e.g. pea-shell); †rind (of pomegranates, etc.); putamen, pericarp.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > part of tree or woody plant > wood > [noun] > bark
rindeOE
barka1300
pillc1300
scorch1480
utter-bark1530
skin1558
shell1561
tree-bark1910
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > fruit or reproductive product > [noun] > parts of > skin or roughening of skin
rindeOE
skina1398
peel?a1450
pill1530
shell1561
peeling1598
sloughc1660
russet1817
epicarp1819
exocarp1845
russeting1851
shuck1869
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > seed > [noun] > parts of > covering or skin
pillc1300
huskc1400
shell1561
tunicle1601
parchment1682
tunic1760
seed coat1776
aril1785
testa1796
perula1825
spermoderm1841
endopleura1842
test1846
arillode1854
tegmen1857
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > seed > seed-vessel or pericarp > [noun] > pod, husk, or siliqua
shalec825
hullc1000
codOE
hud1398
hulk1398
pod1553
shell1561
shuck1674
orme1688
siliqua1704
kida1722
hose-husk1728
silicula1760
silicle1785
silique1785
silicule1793
1561 J. Hollybush tr. H. Brunschwig Most Excellent Homish Apothecarye f. 26 Take the wood of Berberis, fyll the upper shell wyth the leaves from it.
1562 W. Turner Herball (1568) ii. 33 If lentilles be sodden with theyr shelles untaken of.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 389 The powder of vnripe Pomgranat shels.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Calicules,..the rough shells of Chestnuts.
1624 J. Smith Gen. Hist. Virginia ii. 34 Their chiefe instruments are Rattles made of small gourds, or Pumpeons shels.
1631 D. Widdowes tr. W. A. Scribonius Nat. Philos. (new ed.) 24 It may be softened by quenching in juyce of beane shuls or mallowes.
1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden xcix Within which fruit [gourd], lie..many seeds, having smooth hard wooddy shells.
1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry (1721) II. 144 The Scarlet-Bean which has a red Husk, and is not the best to eat in the Shell, as Kidney-Beans are usually eaten.
1745 R. Pococke Descr. East II. i. 233 They fill the shell [of coloquintida] with milk, and let it stand some time.
1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 66 Legumen, or shell; a seed-vessel of two valves.
1861 R. Bentley Man. Bot. i. iv. 300 The shell or pericarp.
1861 R. Bentley Man. Bot. i. iv. 301 A stony shell surrounding the seed, called the putamen.
1901 T. J. Alldridge Sherbro ii. 15 A great deal of shell [on palm kernels], which of course is useless.
b. The empty case of a fruit.
ΚΠ
1902 H. L. Wilson Spenders xxvii. 313 Mr. Milbrey glanced at the two shells of the orange which the butler was then removing.
1974 Times 20 Apr. 10/8 Grapefruit mixes well with cottage cheese, and you can use the shell to hold the salad.
9.
a. The hard covering or ‘house’ of a snail: cf. snail-shell n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Gastropoda > [noun] > order Pulmonifera > member of > parts of > shell
shellc1400
snail-shell1530
snail-horn1672
snail-house1688
c1400 Mandeville's Trav. (Roxb.) xxi. 96 Þer er..so grete snyles þat in þaire schelles three men or foure may be herberd.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 266/2 Schell of a snayle, cocquille.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Caqueroles, the shels of Snayles, Periwincles, and such like.
1766 C. Anstey New Bath Guide vi. i. 37 As snug as a Hod'mandod rides in his Shell.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VII. 23 In proportion as it grows, the shell encreases in the number of its circles.
1808 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 19 373 The covering or opercle with which they [sc. snails] close up their shell in winter.
b. In figurative phrases, referring to avoidance of society or to a forbidding and an uncommunicative manner.
ΚΠ
1815 Countess Granville Lett. (1894) I. 73 Madame de Coigny has difficulty in re-uniting people chez elle, and if one meets a Frenchman there, he draws into his shell and sits in gloomy silence.
1853 Earl Lytton Let. to Browning 26 July I have long ago crept into my shell for good.
1889 C. F. M. Bell From Pharaoh to Fellah xiii. 111 Under the soothing influence of coffee and tobacco, he came out of his shell.
1893 H. Vizetelly Glances Back I. vii. 137 [He] rarely spoke unless personally appealed to, and speedily retired into his shell again.
10.
a. The hard covering of a tortoise or turtle; the material of which this is composed: cf. tortoiseshell n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > reptiles > order Chelonia (turtles and tortoises) > [noun] > member of > parts of > shell or parts of
shell1542
tortoiseshell1601
breastplate1698
plastron1831
hyposternal1835
neural plate1849
nuchal1864
hypoplastron1871
medullary plate1879
neural1888
neural bone1889
1542 T. Elyot Bibliotheca Chelonium, the shell of a torteyse.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. vi. xxiv. 134 The Chelonophagi, i. such as feed upon the flesh of Tortoises, and the shels of them serve for roufes.
1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) 25 The Sea Tortoise is not much differing from those at land, her house or shell is only flatter.
1726 Four Years Voy. Capt. G. Roberts 21 They had nothing to pay me for it, but the Turtle, Oil, and Shell which they had made here.
1844 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece VIII. 353 A tortoise, which is safe only so long as it keeps within its shell.
†b. poetic. [after Latin testudo.] A lyre (in allusion to the legend that the first lyre was a tortoise shell stringed); occasionally (cf. lyre n.1 1b) put for ‘lyric poetry’. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > stringed instruments > harp or lyre > [noun] > lyre
lyrec1275
lyraa1586
shell1747
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poem or piece of poetry > lyric poem > [noun] > symbol of lyric poetry
lyre1684
shell1747
1687 J. Dryden Song St. Cecilia's Day ii When Jubal struck the corded Shell.]
1747 W. Collins Odes 4 Till, Virgin, Thou again delight To hear a British Shell!
1769 T. Gray Ode at Installation Duke of Grafton 23 'Twas Milton struck the deep-toned shell.
1821 Ld. Byron Diary in Wks. (1846) 423/1 My brethren of the shell.
1821 Ld. Byron Sardanapalus iii. i. 83 Hast thou thy shell in order? Sing me a song.
11. The integument of an armadillo, glyptodon, ostraciont, etc.; the elytron of an insect; the cast skin of a pupa.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > covering or skin > [noun] > hard or protective covering
armoura1398
crust1615
armature1653
mail1713
shell1774
buckler1828
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth IV. 125 This animal [sc. the armadillo] being covered, like a tortoise, with a shell, or rather a number of shells.
1840 W. Swainson & W. E. Shuckard Hist. Insects §70. 81 An immense assemblage of insects, having..four wings, but of which two are converted into cases or shells (elytra).
1852 J. D. Dana U.S. Exploring Exped.: Crustacea Pt. II ii. 1370 The two elytra-like prolongations of the shell of the third segment of the body [of the Dinematuræ].
II. A shell-shaped object; something concave or hollow.
12.
a. Applied gen. to a hollow spherical, hemispherical, or dome-shaped object.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > curved three-dimensional shape or body > [noun] > hollow
shell1599
the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > hollowness > [noun] > hollow object
shell1599
1599 in J. Barmby Churchwardens' Accts. Pittington (1888) 276 Whatsoever shall..misforten about the clock, viz., shelles or nutes or such like thinges.
c1660 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1644 (1955) II. 110 That [jetto] which rises over the greate shell of lead, from whenc it glides silently downe a Channell.
1748 Defoe's Tour Great Brit. (ed. 4) I. 163 There rises above the Roof a semicircular Dome, which has two Shells,..the outward Shell is Carpentry, covered with Lead.
1759 H. Walpole Let. 2 June in Corr. (1941) IX. 237 As they were sitting in the shell on my terrace.
1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna xii. xxi. 260 The boat was one curved shell of hollow pearl.
1850 B. Taylor Eldorado (1862) iv. 34 The whole vast shell of the firmament.
1851 J. Ruskin Stones of Venice I. xi. 127 An arch..is a curved shell of firm materials, on whose back a burden is to be laid of loose materials.
b. A thin body bounded by two closely spaced curved surfaces: (a) as a concept in Statics; (b) in Civil Engineering, a structural member of this form that has strength by virtue of its shape.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > [noun] > a curve > curved part > thin body between two curved surfaces
shell1877
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > framework of building > [noun] > members of
pan1284
balka1300
lacec1330
pautre1360
dorman1374
rib1378
montant1438
dormant?1454
transom1487
ground-pillar?a1500
barge-couple1562
spar foot1579
frankpost1587
tracing1601
sleeper1607
bressumer1611
master-beam1611
muntin1611
discharge1620
dormer1623
mounting post1629
tassel1632
baufrey1640
pier1663
storey post1663
breastplate?1667
mudsill1685
template1700
brow-post1706
brow-stone1761
runner1772
stretching beam1776
pole plate1787
sabliere1800
frame stud1803
bent1815
mounting1819
bond-timber1823
storey rod1823
wall-hold1833
wall-strap1833
truss-block1883
sleeper-beam1937
shell1952
1877 G. M. Minchin Treat. Statics xiv. 432 Hence..every shell of uniform density and small thickness, bounded by similar, similarly situated, and concentric surfaces produces a constant potential at all points in its interior.
1892 A. E. H. Love Treat. Math. Theory Elasticity I. vii. 221 Consider the case of a spherical shell, whose outer and inner surfaces are subjected to hydrostatic pressure.
1952 O. Faber Reinforced Concrete xiii. 192 For clear widths of about 150 ft. and over it is found to be economical to provide arched shells spanning direct, with stiffening ribs at about 25 ft. to 35 ft. centres.
1967 H. Kraus Thin Elastic Shells p. vii Sophisticated uses of shells are currently being made in missiles and space vehicles, submarines, nuclear reactor vessels, refinery equipment, and the like.
1972 R. E. Owen Roofs vi. 81 A cylindrical shell transmits direct load to its columns.
c. U.S. A concave structure designed to accommodate a band or orchestra.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > a performance > place of performance or practice > [noun] > band-stand > specific
music shell1927
band shell1928
shell1938
1938 D. Baker Young Man with Horn i. vi. 71 At the rear of the room was the orchestra shell, very shell-like, fluted along the upper edge.
1978 Chicago June 22/2 Each concert will be given on two evenings, and performances will take place..in the new James C. Petrillo Music Shell at Jackson and Columbus.
13.
a. A scale of a balance. Scottish.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > measurement > measurement by weighing > equipment for weighing > [noun] > a weighing apparatus > a balance > scale of a balance
balance1388
weigh-scalea1400
basin1413
scalec1440
shell15..
scale-pan1830
15.. Aberd. Reg. (Jam.) A pair of schellis.
1637 S. Rutherford Lett. (1664) 143 Our Lord (who hath all you the Nobles lying in the shell of his ballance).
c1730 A. Ramsay Twa Cats & Cheese in Fables & Tales 22 He..ca's for the scales..He puts ilk haff in either shell.
†b. The bowl (of a chalice). Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > containers for drink > drinking vessel > [noun] > bowl of
shell1546
1546 in W. Page Inventories Church Goods York, Durham & Northumberland (1897) 134 A chalice, the shelle of silver and gilt, waing iiij ounces.
14. The semicircular guard of a sword, often elaborately worked.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > sharp weapon > side arms > sword > [noun] > guard
cross1470
guard1596
ward1634
shell1685
bow1701
basket1833
cross-guard1869
cross-piece1869
hilt-guard1869
second guard1869
tsuba1889
knuckle-bow1895
1685 London Gaz. No. 2050/4 A Rapier Sword, the Hilt of which was made with a whole Shell.
1692 W. Hope Compl. Fencing-master (ed. 2) 3 The Shell is that part of the Hilt next to the Blade.
1707 W. Hope New Method Fencing iv. §3. 60 The Hilt hath its Pomel, Handle, Shell, and Cross-Barrs.
1748 T. Smollett Roderick Random II. lix. 252 I seized his shell, which was close to my breast, before he could disintangle his point.
1826 W. Scott Woodstock II. vii. 191 The shell of my rapier struck against his ribs.
1869 C. Boutell tr. J. P. Lacombe Arms & Armour ix. 178 This weapon [the rapier] generally has a kind of small basket or shell.
15. The apsidal end of the school-room at Westminster School, so called from its conch-like shape. Hence, the name of the form (intermediate between the fifth and sixth) which originally tenanted the ‘shell’ at Westminster School, and transferred of forms (intermediate between forms designated by numbers) in other public schools; see quots.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > learning > learner > one attending school > [noun] > division of pupils > form or class
form1560
first forma1602
remove1718
shell1736
sixth-form1807
lower sixth (form)1818
pettya1827
grade1835
the twenty1857
baby class1860
standard1862
nursery class1863
primer1885
reception class1902
sixth form1938
reception1975
society > education > place of education > educational buildings > [noun] > school > schoolroom > specific
shell1736
1736 Gentleman's Mag. Nov. 679/2 Near these [forms] ye shell's high concave walls appear.
1750 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 11 June (1932) (modernized text) IV. 1555 Observe..what the best scholars in the form immediately above you do, and so on, till you get into the shell yourself.
1825 R. Southey Life (1849) I. 151 He was floated up to the Shell, beyond which the tide carried no one.
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. v. 111 The lower fifth, shell, and all the junior forms in order [at Rugby].
1877 W. P. Lennox Celebrities I. 43 The noise grew louder and louder, until the birch was safely deposited in a small room behind the ‘shell’,—so the upper end of the room was called from its shape [Westminster].
1884 F. H. Forshall Westm. School 3 The Headmaster faced all the boys excepting the tenants of the ‘Shell’.
1903 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. June 742/2 The third ‘shell’, a form within measurable distance of the lowest in the school [Harrow].
16. The bottom part of a turnip remaining after the root has been scooped out by sheep.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > animal food > [noun] > fodder > fodder for sheep > turnip shell
shell1802
1802 A. F. M. Willich Domest. Encycl. IV. 60/2 The shells of turnips which have been suffered to lie on the ground for some time.
1886 C. Scott Pract. Sheep-farming 49 An active man will, with the assistance of a boy or woman at picking shells, manage 600 full-mouthed sheep.
17. The outer ear; = concha n. 4a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > ear > [noun] > flap or lobe
lapc1000
ear-lapOE
list1530
lippet1598
lug1602
lappet1609
handle1615
libbet1627
auricle1650
flip-flop1661
pinna1682
helix1684
lobe1719
earlobea1785
ear flap1810
leaf1819
shell1831
pavilion1842
ear bud1953
1831 W. Youatt Horse vi. 77 This cartilage, the conch or shell, is attached to the head by ligaments.
1871 C. Darwin Descent of Man I. i. 21 The whole external shell of the ear.
18.
a. U.S. A light, narrow, racing-boat.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessels propelled by oars or poles > [noun] > rowing boat > light or racing
boat1829
torpid1838
wager-boat1844
skiff1845
slogger1852
whiff1859
gig1865
best boat1866
shell1867
ship1878
sculling four1885
rum-tum1891
Togger1891
1867 Harper's Mag. Oct. 654/2 Look at these beautiful ‘shells’, resting one above the other on the brackets on either wall.
1873 B. Harte What B. Harte Saw in Fiddletown 98 A shell with its exercising crew.
1894 Outing 24 69/2 The first month of rowing in the shell is taken up in coaxing the fractious creature to be steady on its bottom.
b. The floating part of a racing boat; the dug-out portion of a West Indian canoe.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > [noun] > body of rowing boat or canoe
shell1895
1895 Westm. Gaz. 30 Mar. 3/1 After the skin and the ribs, which really constitute the shell of the boat, are finished, we fix the seats and stretchers.
1901 Daily Tel. 18 Mar. 7/4 The greater distance between the men necessitated by the slides also involved a longer shell.
1907 C. Hill-Tout Brit. N. Amer., Far West vii. 136 The thickness of the shell varies with the size of the vessel, the small [dug-out] canoes being about an inch.
19.
a. Miscellaneous technical uses.e.g.: in casting, the outer wall of the mould; a pump bucket or clack before it is grathed; a concave grinding tool; a thin film of copper forming the face of an electrotype, which is backed with type-metal; see also quots.; the comparatively small piece of horse-hide obtained from the rump (quot. 1903); see also quots. 1887, 1905.
ΚΠ
1819 H. Reveley Let. to Shelley 12 Nov. So that the melted metal..may..fill up the..space left between the core and the shell, in order to form the desired cylinders.
1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 168 A fluted cylinder called the roller-bowl, encased at its lower and back part within a segment of a hollow cylinder called the shell.
1839 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 2 311/1 The shells or buckets are fitted with valves opening upwards.
1839 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 2 370 Two ‘shells’ are to be provided, or what is technically termed the moulding box.
1860 R. Hunt Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 5) II. 699 A concave rough grinding tool of cast iron called a shell.
1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Shell (Weaving), the upper and under shells are the bars of the lay, which are grooved to receive the reed.
1881 J. C. Maxwell Treat. Electr. & Magnetism (ed. 2) I. 77 An insulated spherical shell concentric with the globe.
a1884 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Suppl. 805/1 Shell, a Russian tool for turning insides of hollow projectiles.
1885 Lock in Workshop Rec. 4th Ser. 215/1 A substantial electrotype or shell should be obtained in 10–15 hours.
1887 J. A. Phillips & H. Bauerman Elem. Metall. 449 This nucleus or ‘kernel’, which gives its name to the process, is enclosed in a somewhat porous ‘shell’, consisting, mainly, of ferric oxide, which can be easily detached by a hammer.
1898 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Shells, a term for tinted spectacles for protecting the eyes from bright light.
1903 L. A. Flemming Pract. Tanning xxiv. 398 Upon the fore part a liquor of twenty degrees Baumé may be used, and a twenty-four degree liquor on the shell.
1905 R. Staples-Browne in Proc. Zool. Soc. 12 Dec. 552 The Nun [pigeon] exhibits a tuft of reversed feathers standing up at the back of the head forming the ‘shell’.
b. Physics. (A set of electrons forming) one of a number of concentric structures around the nucleus of an atom; spec. a set of electrons each having the same principal quantum number. Also, (a set of nucleons forming) a corresponding structure within a nucleus.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > quantum theory > [noun] > set of electrons
shell1904
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > [noun] > distribution or structure of nucleons
configuration1963
shell1972
1904 J. J. Thomson in London, Edinb. & Dublin Philos. Mag. 6th Ser. 7 255 When the corpuscles [sc. electrons] are not constrained to one plane, but can move about in all directions, they will arrange themselves in a series of concentric shells.
1919 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 5 252 The electrons in any given atom are distributed through a series of concentric (nearly) spherical shells, all of equal thickness.
1932 Physical Rev. 41 370/1 For some time, there has been speculation as to whether or not the atomic nucleus can be regarded as consisting of shells of protons, just as the external structure is known to consist of shells of electrons.
1952 Sci. News 23 36 Neon has 10 electrons in two complete shells.
1961 G. R. Choppin Exper. Nucl. Chem. iii. 30 Frequently, rather than emit a gamma ray, a nucleus will interact with its external electronic shells and cause emission of an electron.
1972 Sci. Amer. Oct. 101/1 In nuclei there also is a periodic recurrence of certain properties as nucleons are added to fill successive shells of quantum states.
1974 G. Reece tr. F. Hund Hist. Quantum Theory viii. 106 The formation of molecules was thus a problem of atomic structure, namely the tendency of atoms to form ions with complete shells.
III. An exterior or enclosing cover or case.
20.
a. A covering (of earth, stone, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > covering > [noun] > a covering
wrielsc825
coverc1320
hillingc1325
eyelida1382
covering1382
casea1398
coverta1400
tegumentc1440
hacklea1450
coverturec1450
housingc1450
deck1466
heeler1495
housera1522
coverlet1551
shrouda1561
kever1570
vele1580
periwig1589
hap1593
opercle1598
integument?1611
blanketa1616
cask1646
operiment1650
coverlid1654
tegment1656
shell?1677
muff1687
operculum1738
tegmen1807
?1677 S. Primatt City & Covntry Purchaser & Builder 4 Coal-mines which are covered with a shell of stone about a fathom or more thick.
1692 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. iii. 24 Arched over with an exterior Crust or Shell of Earth.
b. The crust of the earth.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > [noun] > crust
crust1555
sole1610
shella1704
earth-rind1827
subshell1906
a1704 J. Locke Elem. Nat. Philos. viii, in Coll. Several Pieces (1720) 208 Whatever we fetch from under ground is only what is lodg'd in the shell of the earth.
1830 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 35 The separation of the land from the waters, mentioned in Genesis: during which operation some places of the shell of the earth were forced outwards.
1869 J. Phillips Vesuvius xii. 331 The inner as well as the outer surface of the earth's crust or shell must be spheroidal.
21.
a. A case of metal, etc. in which powder and shot is made up, esp. for use as a hand-grenade.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > missile > [noun] > grenade
trombe1562
grenade1591
grenado1611
granata1637
hand grenade1637
bag-granado1638
shell1647
glass-grenade1664
globe1672
flask1769
petrol bomb1903
rifle grenade1909
hairbrush1916
Mills1916
pineapple bomb1916
stick grenade1917
fragmentation bomb1918
pineapple1918
potato-masher grenade1925
spitball1925
Molotov cocktail1940
sticky bomb1940
stick-bomb1941
red devila1944
stun grenade1977
flash-bang1982
1647 N. Nye Art of Gunnery ii. 73 First of all fill these small shels [i.e. granadoes for the hand] with fine Gunpowder.
1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. v. xiii. 85 To Load them, fill these small Shells with Gun-Powder. [margin.] The Shells are made of Glass, or nelld Clay, or Paper.
1692 Smith's Sea-mans Gram. (new ed.) ii. xvii. 127 How much Powder will fill that Shell?
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine at Mortar This fuse..communicates the fire to the powder in the shell.
1884 Milit. Engin. (ed. 3) I. ii. 101 Weight of Shell loaded for service.
b. Hence, an explosive projectile or bomb for use in a cannon or mortar. Also collective singular.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > missile > ammunition for firearms > [noun] > bullet or shell > shell
cartouche1611
shell1651
bomb1684
bombshell1708
artillery shell1856
plonker1917
streetcar1920
1651 Perfect Acct. Intelligence Armies & Navy No. 14. 110 They swear they will never fight more against Guns that shoot twice, meaning the two cracks, the Mortar and the shell.
1695 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) III. 452 13 mortars were tryed..and approved of, each of them throwing a shell a mile and half.
1767 T. Hutchinson Hist. Province Massachusets-Bay, 1691–1750 ii. 181 The bomb-ship..plied the French with her shells.
1806 A. Duncan Life Nelson 45 The Thunder..began to throw shells.
1831 J. Sinclair Corr. II. 391 A single shell bursting, was seen to put an effectual stop to their whole cavalry in a charge.
1855 Ld. Tennyson Charge Light Brigade ii, in Maud & Other Poems 152 Storm'd at with shot and shell.
c. A cartridge case of paper or metal.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > missile > ammunition for firearms > [noun] > cartridge
cartridge1579
cartouche1611
shell1740
1740 G. Smith tr. Laboratory (rev. ed.) App. p. xliii Pour it in the paper shells.
1890 W. B. Leffingwell Wild Fowl Shooting 122 You can get shells at the gunsmith's loaded, or, if you prefer, load them yourself.
1892 W. W. Greener Breech-loader 171 In America good paper cases, or ‘shells’, are dearer than in England.
d. Fireworks. (See quot. 1878.)
ΚΠ
1878 T. Kentish Pyrotechn. Treas. 117 Shells are hollow paper globes, fired vertically, from mortars, or iron tubes.
22. A wooden coffin, esp. a rough or temporary one. Also a thin coffin of lead or other material to be enclosed in a more substantial one.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > disposal of corpse > receptacle for remains > [noun] > coffin > thin, rough, or temporary coffin
shell1788
1788 Gentleman's Mag. 2 1045 Great abundance of human bones have been unavoidably dug up, most of which have been put into shells.
1799 R. Southey Eng. Eclogues in Poet. Wks. (1838) III. 45 To slave while there is strength, in age the workhouse, A parish shell at last.
1837 J. Richardson Brit. Legion (ed. 2) viii. 212 Their [Spanish criminals] bodies..were then taken down by the executioner.., and placed in shells.
1855 W. M. Thackeray Newcomes II. xvii. 162 Look rather at the living audience standing round the shell;—the deep grief on Barnes Newcome's fine countenance.
1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Shell, a rough coffin to be enclosed in another.
1892 Times 4 Feb. 12/2 The leaden shell in which the body..is laid was sealed down and this enclosed in a beautiful olivewood coffin.
23. Miscellaneous uses.
a. Nautical. The outer casing of a pulley-block; a thimble dead-eye block used to join the ends of two ropes.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > lifting or hoisting equipment > [noun] > tackle > pulley > parts of
shell1769
web1794
gorge1815
swallowc1860
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine Shell of a block, the outer frame or case, wherein the sheave or wheel is contained.
1794 D. Steel Elements & Pract. Rigging & Seamanship I. 149 The shell is made of elm or ash.
1841 R. H. Dana Seaman's Man. viii. 44 A made block consists of..the shell..; the sheave..; the pin..; and the strap.
1882 G. S. Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 36 Topmast rigging is sometimes spliced round the shell of the dead eye.
b. See quots. 1802 at sense 16, 1853 at sense 9b and cf. shell-jacket n. at Compounds 7. Also North American, the unlined body of a coat; U.S., an article of clothing for the upper body, spec. a woman's (usually sleeveless) overblouse or a light all-weather jacket.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > jacket > weatherproof
shell1802
storm-jacket1844
parka1897
anorak1936
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > bodice > blouse > types of
jerkinetc1686
shell1802
shirt1840
Garibaldi1862
shirt-bodice1868
Norfolk blouse1869
shirtwaist1871
shirt-blouse1876
guimpe1889
overblouse1889
middy1894
blouse coat1898
pneumonia blouse1902
jumper1908
kimono blouse1908
sailor top1913
buba1937
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > jacket > worn by specific people > the military
buff-jerkin1598
shell1802
raggie1828
shell-jacket1840
fatigue-jacket1852
dolman1883
maternity jacket1925
maternity1958
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > coat > parts of > body
stump1506
body1542
shell1802
1802 C. James New Mil. Dict. Shell, a short jacket without arms, which was worn by light dragoons.
1853 J. H. Stocqueler Mil. Encycl. 252/1 Shell, a short jacket without tails.
1886 St. James's Gaz. 22 Dec. 6/1 He had been measured for..tunics and shells and messing-jackets.
1913 T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Semi-Annual Sale 17/3 Men's muskrat-lined coat..Collar is genuine Canadian otter; the shell is cut from standard quality black beaver cloth.
1962 Mademoiselle Aug. 276/2 A white cardigan..to show a matching sleeveless shell.
1967 Boston Sunday Globe 23 Apr. 5/2 (advt.) 3-pc. acetate double knit suit with rayon metallic shell.
1976 National Observer (U.S.) 1 May 7/4 (advt.) Nylon shell for men and women. Ultra light, all weather sports jacket of tough two-ply coated nylon.
1976 U. Curtiss Dig Little Deeper x. 89 Paula came in, wearing a topaz-colored pants suit over a ribbed cream shell.
c. The outer plating of a boiler.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > boiler > [noun] > parts of > plates
shell1839
shell-plate1857
tube-plate1864
throat plate1872
tube-sheet1877
shell-plating1894
tube-head1911
1839 R. S. Robinson Naut. Steam Engine Explained 114 The chief parts of a boiler are the shell, the flues, the furnaces and the steam chest.
d. Bridge-building. (See quot. 1876.)
ΚΠ
1876 Encycl. Brit. IV. 326 Concrete in a shell is a name which might be applied to all the methods of founding a pier which depend on the..property which strong hydraulic concrete possesses of setting into a solid mass under water. The required space is enclosed by a wooden or iron shell.
e. The body of a car.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > body or bodywork
auto body1904
bodywork1908
skin1921
shell1937
1937 Times 13 Apr. (Brit. Motor Suppl.) p. xiii/1 The various stages through which the car body shell can pass, therefore, are as follows.
1972 Oxf. Mail 13 Oct. 1/5 Output of body shells for the Marina range was halted for a time.
IV. A mere exterior or framework.
24. The external part, exterior, or outward aspect, the externals (of something immaterial).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > [noun] > the outside or exterior > external aspect as opposed to internal > of something immaterial
apparel1610
attire1610
shella1652
a1652 J. Smith Select Disc. (1660) i. i. 8 We must not think we have then attained to the right knowledge of Truth, when we have broke through the outward Shell of words..that house it up.
1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ ii. iv. §2 It seems somewhat strange that God should take so great care about the shell and outside of his worship.
1706 tr. J. B. Morvan de Bellegarde Refl. upon Ridicule 204 Cullies, that Judge only by the Shell, and Appearance.
1774 Earnest Addr. Methodists (ed. 8) 5 The outward form and shell of religion.
1853 C. Kingsley Hypatia I. ii. 43 The old Jewish blood still beat true, under all its affected shell of Neo-Platonist nonchalance.
1875 Ld. Lytton Lett. (1906) I. 335 Words are the shells of ideas.
1889 A. Conan Doyle Micah Clarke i. 6 Among so many there were some whose piety was a shell for their ambition.
25.
a. An empty or hollow thing; mere externality without substance.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > unsubstantiality or abstractness > [noun] > unsubstantiality or lack of substance > superficiality or hollowness > superficial or hollow thing
bladder1589
Sodom apple1605
Sodom fruit1737
shella1800
a1800 W. Cowper Yardley-Oak in W. Hayley Life & Posthumous Writings Cowper (1804) III. 414 All the superstructure,..a shell Stands now—and semblance only of itself!
1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) II. 426 Nothing but the shell of what was intended for the lasting support of a family of honour.
1829 T. Carlyle German Playwrights in Foreign Rev. Jan. 96 Mere effigies and shells of men.
1846 New Monthly Mag. Dec. 410 He piously kissed that shell of a departed being.
1871 A. C. Swinburne Halt before Rome in Songs before Sunrise 184 How shall the spirit be loyal To the shell of a spiritless thing?
b. A company which has ceased to trade but which is still quoted on the stock exchange.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > business affairs > a business or company > [noun] > other types of company
incorporation1530
acquisitor1668
private company?1711
private practice1724
public company1730
trading house1760
acquiror1789
in-company1791
public corporation1796
company1800
subsidiary company1823
proprietary company1824
stock-company1827
trust company1827
subsidiary1828
concessionaire1839
commandite1844
statutory company1847
parent company1854
mastership1868
state enterprise1886
Pty.1904
asset class1931
acquirer1950
parent1953
growth company1959
spin-off1959
non-profit1961
shell1964
not-for-profit1969
vehicle1971
spin-out1972
startup1975
greenfield1982
large-cap1982
monoline1984
small cap1984
mid-cap1988
multidomestic1989
dotcom1996
1964 Economist 19 Dec. 1378/2 A company had ceased normal trading and was a pure shell.
1969 ‘D. Rutherford’ Gilt-edged Cockpit iv. 68 It's called buying a shell. A tax loss company. When you set the Hackforth loss against our profit we're left with practically no tax to pay.
1981 Times 27 May 20/6 Mr Alastair Milne..headed a consortium bidding for former cash shell Phoenix Mining two years ago.
26.
a. The outer part of an edifice or fabric, the interior of which has been removed or destroyed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > [noun] > the outside or exterior > external aspect as opposed to internal > with interior removed or destroyed
shell1657
1657 Docum. St. Paul's (Camden) 155 The roofe and floore of the wch howse is fallen downe to the grownd, and lyeth on a heape wthin the shell thereof.
?c1710 J. Taylor Journey Edenborough (1903) 65 The Shell of Cliffords Tower which was blown up in 1684.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker III. 48 Hard by is the shell of a..Gothic palace.
1865 A. Smith Summer in Skye I. 34 The red shell of Tantallon speaks to you of the might of the Douglases.
1866 C. F. T. Young Fires 59 Nothing remained but the red-hot skeleton or shell of the building.
1888 J. W. Burgon Lives Twelve Good Men I. ii. 288 [She] built herself a stately mansion which was only reduced to a shell in 1794.
b. The skeleton or carcass of a building or a ship.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > framework of building > [noun]
frame1440
mould1570
casea1676
needlework1686
framing1703
shell1705
casework1767
breast beam1828
balloon frame1844
fabric1849
balloon framing1855
armature1878
steel frame1898
1705 J. Addison Remarks Italy 202 The Shell of a House, which he had not time to finish.
1761 J. Wesley Jrnl. 29 July (1827) III. 68 I preached..in the shell of the new house.
1814 T. Lane Guide Lincoln's Inn 82 The shells or walls of the several chambers..are insured from fire by the society.
1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 580 When the shell of a building is finished, that is, previous to the floors being laid, or the ceilings lathed.
1886 C. E. Pascoe London of To-day (ed. 3) xxxii. 295 The shell of the house, of brick, is old; but stone frontages, enlargements, and decorations, were afterwards made.
1900 G. C. Brodrick Mem. & Impr. 53 I was shown the Great Britain, then a mere shell on the stocks, one of the first iron ships ever built.
c. U.S. A rough, wooden structure, without decoration or furniture.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > building of specific construction > [noun]
framec1425
staddlec1563
sided1602
brick house1608
dobe1838
brick1844
adobe1852
shell1852
cinderblock1868
tin chapel1884
brick veneer1885
red brick1892
gambrel1917
weatherboard1925
Terrapin1949
Portakabin1963
1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin (U.K. ed.) xxxii. 293 They were mere rude shells, destitute of any species of furniture.
1882 W. D. Howells in Longman's Mag. 1 48 The edifice was what we call a shell; it was not plastered.
1902 O. Wister Virginian xiii. 148 It [sc.the eating palace] was a shell of wood, —painted with golden emblems.
V. A scale or scale-like object.
27. A scale of a fish or reptile; a hard epidermal excrescence. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > covering or skin > [noun] > hard or protective covering > scale
shellc893
scalec1330
shard1390
squama1706
squame1877
c893 tr. Orosius Hist. iv. viii. 174 Þonne hie mon slog oþþe sceat, þonne glad hit on þæm scyllum, swelce hit wære smeðe isen.
c897 K. Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care xlvii. 360 Ælces fisces sciell bið to oðerre gefeged.
c1000 Ælfric Leviticus xi. 9 Ne ete ge nanne fisc buton þa þe habbað finnas and scilla.
1582 N. Lichefield tr. F. L. de Castanheda 1st Bk. Hist. Discouerie E. Indias i. xl. 94 [Lagartos] their bodies are couered ouer with shels.
1665 R. Hooke Micrographia 184 The leggs.. were all of them cover'd with a strong hairy scale or shel.
28.
a. A scale or lamina (of stone, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > condition of being broad in relation to thickness > [noun] > thin plate or layer > scale > that has come off
shell13..
slake1585
flake1591
scaling1651
exfoliation1750
13.. Guy Warw. (1891) xciii. 454 Nas neuer wepen þat euer was make Þat o schel miȝt þerof take, Na more þan of þe flint.
1645 Docum. St. Paul's (Camden) 144 Whit marble in block and shels 140 fo[ot].
1845 J. Phillips & C. G. B. Daubeny Geol. in Encycl. Metrop. VI. 592/1 Such flagstones..are much liable to scale off in irregular ‘shells’.
†b. A lamina (of bone). Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > condition of being broad in relation to thickness > [noun] > thin plate or layer > of bone
shellc1400
c1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 86 Neuere þe lattere kynde wole afterward don awey a schelle of þilke same boon, nouȝt aȝenstondynge þi schauynge.
1656 J. Smith Compl. Pract. Physick 171 A Contusion when the bone is pressed down; yet so, that it is not broken into many shells.
†29. plural. Scurf; = scale n.2 2. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of visible parts > skin disorders > [noun] > scurfy or scabby state or disease
scurfc1000
scabc1250
scallc1374
lepraa1398
morphoeaa1398
scalledness1398
morphewa1400
scabiesc1400
scale14..
scruff14..
shellsc1400
rove?c1450
scabnessc1450
scabbedness1483
scaldness1527
scurfinessa1529
scaledness1530
dandruff1545
skalfering1561
bran1574
room1578
reefa1585
scabbiness1584
scald1598
skilfers1599
scabiosity1608
scalliness1610
scaliness1611
furfur1621
morph1681
pityriasis1684
psoriasis1684
porrigo1706
scaly tetter1799
motley dandruff1822
scale-skin1822
parapsoriasis1903
dander-
c1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 189 Furfurea ben a maner of squamis .i. schellis þat comeþ of brennyng þat is in þe skyn.
1527 L. Andrewe tr. H. Brunschwig Vertuose Boke Distyllacyon sig. Civv The hede often enointed with the same..withdryveth the shelles from the hede.
30. Any of the thin pieces of metal composing scale-armour; = scale n.2 7a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > condition of being broad in relation to thickness > [noun] > thin plate or layer
foil?c1390
spelt?a1400
leafc1475
lamin1489
lamea1586
shell1585
lamina1656
lamel1676
lamella1678
society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > [noun] > plate- or scale-armour > plate or scale of
platec1330
lamea1586
shell1585
scale1809
mascle1818
1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie iv. iii. 115 b They had..vppon their bodies curates of shelles of diuers colours.
1849 J. Grant Mem. Kirkaldy ix. 85 They wore the most splendid armour of the age, with surcoats or hoquetons covered with shells of silver gilt.
†31. Cant. (plural) Money. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > [noun]
silverc825
feec870
pennieseOE
wortheOE
mintOE
scata1122
spense?c1225
spendinga1290
sumc1300
gooda1325
moneya1325
cattlec1330
muckc1330
reasona1382
pecunyc1400
gilt1497
argentc1500
gelta1529
Mammon1539
ale silver1541
scruff1559
the sinews of war1560
sterling1565
lour1567
will-do-all1583
shell1591
trasha1592
quinyie1596
brass1597
pecuniary1604
dust1607
nomisma1614
countera1616
cross and pilea1625
gingerbreada1625
rhinoa1628
cash1646
grig1657
spanker1663
cole1673
goree1699
mopus1699
quid1699
ribbin1699
bustle1763
necessary1772
stuff1775
needfula1777
iron1785
(the) Spanish1788
pecuniar1793
kelter1807
dibs1812
steven1812
pewter1814
brad1819
pogue1819
rent1823
stumpy1828
posh1830
L. S. D.1835
rivetc1835
tin1836
mint sauce1839
nobbins1846
ochre1846
dingbat1848
dough1848
cheese1850
California1851
mali1851
ducat1853
pay dirt1853
boodle?1856
dinero1856
scad1856
the shiny1856
spondulicks1857
rust1858
soap1860
sugar1862
coin1874
filthy1876
wampum1876
ooftish1877
shekel1883
oil1885
oof1885
mon1888
Jack1890
sploshc1890
bees and honey1892
spending-brass1896
stiff1897
mazuma1900
mazoom1901
cabbage1903
lettuce1903
Oscar Asche1905
jingle1906
doubloons1908
kale1912
scratch1914
green1917
oscar1917
snow1925
poke1926
oodle1930
potatos1931
bread1935
moolah1936
acker1939
moo1941
lolly1943
loot1943
poppy1943
mazoola1944
dosh1953
bickies1966
lovely jubbly1990
scrilla1994
1591 R. Greene Notable Discouery of Coosenage f. 8v The Purse, the Bong. The money, the Shelles.
1591 R. Greene Second Pt. Conny-catching sig. E The Farmer..mist his pursse, searcht for it, but lyning and shelles and all was gon.
1611 T. Middleton & T. Dekker Roaring Girle sig. Lv 'Tis a question whether there bee any siluer shels amongst them, for all their sattin outsides.
†32. plural. Fragments. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > [noun] > a separate part > a fragment > fragments
fardel1508
flinders1508
fitters1532
brockle1552
shells1578
frush1582
flitters1620
shattersa1640
spillikin1857
1578 J. Rolland Seuin Seages 54 The Falcon..russillit & rang hir bellis Almaist scho had al schakin yame in schellis.
33. An epaulette; = scale n.2 9.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > parts of clothing > [noun] > trimmings or ornamentation > epaulette or shoulder knot
shoulder pointa1627
shoulder-knot1676
epaulette1783
wing1810
tags1837
shell1847
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxvii. 232 The Captain, with shells on his frock-coat.

Compounds

C1. (In sense 1.)
a. General attributive.
shell collector n.
ΚΠ
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VII. 17 Our most exact and industrious shell-collectors.
shell-colour n.
ΚΠ
1865 A. C. Swinburne Chastelard ii. i. 67 Bright pink, the shell-colour.
1890 Hardwicke's Sci.-gossip 26 179/1 The evolution of the shell-colour.
† shell commodity n. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1612 R. Daborne Christian turn'd Turke sig. C2 Poore fishers brat, that neuer didst aspire Aboue a musle boate,..That..didst smell Worse then thy shell commodity at midsummer.
shell-covering n.
shell engraving n.
ΚΠ
1850 British Museum (Chambers) 192 Shell-engraving, however, under the name of Conchylie, is now carried on..in Italy.
shell-layer n.
ΚΠ
1854 S. P. Woodward Man. Mollusca ii. 318 The external shell-layer consists of fusiform cells.
shell membrane n.
ΚΠ
1849–52 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. IV. i. 562/2 The various examples of shell-membrane.
shell muscle n.
ΚΠ
1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 548/2 The inner sides of the shell-muscles.
shell net n.
ΚΠ
1883 Great Internat. Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 252 Shell Net.
shell outline n.
ΚΠ
1886 A. Winchell Walks & Talks in Geol. Field 193 In Lamellibrachs the shell-outline is not the same on each side of the beak.
shell wall n.
ΚΠ
1854 S. P. Woodward Man. Mollusca ii. 287 The shell-wall is removed by weathering.
b. Objective and objective genitive.
shell-cleaner n.
ΚΠ
1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Shell-cleaner, a person who makes a business of cleansing and scouring shells.
shell-eater n.
ΚΠ
1880 A. R. Wallace Island Life v. 77 Such species as are especially shell-eaters.
shell-eating adj.
ΚΠ
1857 D. Livingstone Missionary Trav. S. Afr. xiv. 252 Clouds of a black shell-eating bird, called linongolo.
shell-monger n.
ΚΠ
1748 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 6 Dec. (1932) (modernized text) IV. 1270 The..tribe of insect-mongers, shell-mongers, and pursuers and driers of butterflies.
c. Parasynthetic, instrumental, etc.
shell-borne adj.
ΚΠ
1818 J. Keats Endymion iii. 116 O shell-borne Neptune.
shell-burred adj.
ΚΠ
1896 R. Kipling Seven Seas 9 The great grey level plains of ooze where the shell-burred cables creep.
shell-clad adj.
ΚΠ
1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 549/1 The shell-clad Nautilus.
shell-fringed adj.
ΚΠ
1883 Good Words 24 113 Gorgeous articles of native dress, feather-tasseled, shell-fringed, coral-beaded.
shell-housed adj.
ΚΠ
1600 J. Lane Tom Tel-Troths Message 506 The shell-housde snaile.
† shell-prepared adj. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1624 F. Quarles Sions Elegies in Divine Poems (1717) 395 In roughest tides his shell-prepared brest Untoucht with danger, finds a haven of rest.
† shell-strewed adj. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1616 W. Browne Britannia's Pastorals II. i. 3 Now with his hands..The Swaine attempts to get the shell-strewd shores.
shell-strewn adj.
ΚΠ
1856 A. P. Stanley Sinai & Palestine (1858) vi. 261 The shell-strewn beach.
shell-wrought adj.
ΚΠ
1747 W. Mason Ode to Water Nymph 38 Yon shell-wrought terras.
a1749 S. Boyse Vision of Patience in Poet. Wks. (1794) 345/2 Sweet was each shell-wrought bowl.
d.
(a) Similative.
shell-curved adj.
ΚΠ
1901 Lady Dilke French Furnit. 18th Cent. 48 The shell-curved lines which maintain their decorative value in the Salle à manger.
shell-formed adj.
ΚΠ
c1800 Leyden Mermaid liv The shell-formed lyres of ocean ring.
shell-grey adj.
ΚΠ
1963 Times 8 June 12/3 Short dresses of shell-grey silk with flared skirts.
shell-pink adj. and n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > red or redness > [noun] > shades of red > pale red or pink
incarnationa1475
carnation?1533
peach colour1573
maiden's blush1598
maiden blush1600
flesh-colour1611
gridelinc1640
incarnadine1661
pinka1669
peach bloom1716
pompadour1761
rose pink1772
salmon-colour1813
orange-pink1820
peachiness1820
maiden rose1827
pinkiness1828
peach-blow1829
peach1831
pink madder1835
flesh-tint1839
pinkness1840
rose du Barry1847
flesh1852
almond1872
ash of roses1872
nymph-pink1872
rose Pompadour1872
salmon1873
pinkishness1874
mushroom1884
salmon-pink1884
naturelle1887
shell-pink1887
sunrise1890
sultan pink1899
mushroom colour1900
sunblush1925
flesh tone1931
magnolia1963
1887 Daily News 19 May 5/6 Lined with shell-pink satin.
1893 F. F. Moore I forbid Banns (1899) 88 The mellow crimson faded into shell-pink.
1900 G. Swift Somerley 101 Soft cheeks with a sort of sunrise-pink on them—not that unhealthy, doll-like shell-pink.
1932 J. C. Powys Glastonbury Romance ii. xxi. 701 The new silk lining of her ottoman had dyed itself..into an incredible shell-pink.
1951 E. Paul Springtime in Paris (U.K. ed.) xii. 229 Anatole turned shell pink, then a kind of raspberry shade.
1977 ‘E. Anthony’ Silver Falcon (1978) 133 The house was..painted shell-pink.
shell-red adj.
ΚΠ
1891 ‘O. Thanet’ Otto the Knight & Other Stories 311 Shades of gray and purple and shell-red.
shell-shaped adj.
ΚΠ
1835 N. P. Willis Pencillings I. v. 34 The three shell-shaped squares in the centre of the city.
(b)
shell-like adj. and adv.
ΚΠ
1692 J. Ray Misc. Disc. v. 132 There are found not only shell-like Stones, but real Shells.
c1720 N. Dubois & G. Leoni tr. A. Palladio Architecture II. iii. 5 Of the..rooms..the lesser ones are arch'd shell-like.
1827 T. Hood Bianca's Dream 242 Her small and shell-like ear.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VI. 917 Shell-like plates of varying size with scalloped margins.
shell-wise adv.
ΚΠ
1552 in A. J. Kempe Losely MSS (1836) 88 Makinge the same [feathers] into greate plumes, to stand shell-wise over~thwarte the hed peces of the worthyes of the Greekes.
C2. In various senses of branch I, passing into adj.
a. Of an animal, fruit, etc.: Having a shell; see also shellfish n., shell-snail n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > specific areas or structures > [adjective] > outer covering > having or like a shell
shellc1440
shelled1577
shelly1593
hard-shelled1599
soft-shelled1611
thick-shelleda1657
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > fruit or reproductive product > nut > [adjective] > of or relating to a shell > having a shell
shellc1440
shelled1577
c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 443/2 Schale notys, and oþer schelle frute.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. Bonetus observes, That Shell Animals have no Diversity of Sex.
1839 T. Mitchell in Aristophanes Frogs Introd. p. cxviii The pots containing the seeds or shell-fruits.
1859–62 J. Richardson et al. Museum Nat. Hist. (1868) II. 353 The genus Testacellus or Shell-slug.
1871 C. Kingsley At Last II. xvii. 303 Their shell-fauna is of a Mexican and Central American type.
b. Of geological formations or deposits: Consisting wholly or largely of (sea)shells (esp. in a triturated or powdery state, shell-gravel, shell-grit, shell-marl, shell-sand).Cf. shale marl n. at shale n.2 Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > formations by contents > [adjective] > containing organic remains > containing shells
shelly1555
shell1587
conchylaceous1799
conchitic1811
conchiferous1830
orbitoidal1848
1587 L. Mascall Bk. Cattell: Oxen (1596) 43 The shell stones (that lie in arable landes..) first burnt, and then beaten into fine powder.
1692 A. Symson Large Descr. Galloway (1823) 94 As for lime they are supplyed from the Shell-bank of Kirkinner.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Shell-sand, a name given by the farmers, in some parts of England, to the fragments of shells found on the sea-shores, and ground to a sort of powder, so that they resemble sand.
1759 J. Mills tr. H. L. Duhamel du Monceau Pract. Treat. Husbandry i. viii. 29 This author seems never to have seen shell-marle.
1767 Bartram's Jrnl. 7 in W. Stork Acct. E. Florida (ed. 2) This shell-bluff is 300 yards more or less along the river's bank.
1795 J. Hutton Theory Earth I. 100 Among these, are different species of oolites marble, some shell marbles, and some composed of a chalky substance.
1827 G. Higgins Celtic Druids 138 The coarse shell-limestone, which immediately covers the chalk strata in the neighbourhood of Paris.
1850 D. T. Ansted Elem. Course Geol. Shell marl, a deposit of clay, peat, and silt, mixed with shells, which collects at the bottom of fresh water lakes.
1850 J. D. Dana Syst. Mineral. (ed. 3) 208 Fire marble or lumachelle is a dark brown shell marble.
1854 A. Adams et al. Man. Nat. Hist. 589 Shell-beds are formed of dead and drifted shells, heaped together by tides and currents.
1855 C. Kingsley Persius in Heroes iv Shell-drifts bleaching in the sunshine.
1882 W. D. Hay Brighter Britain! I. xi. 307 A straight, broad path, smooth and white with shell-gravel.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses i. iii. [Proteus] 47 Loose sand and shellgrit crusted her bare feet.
1938 Oxoniensia 3 28 Sherd with shell-grit; fine stabs and rouletted horizontal lines.
1964 Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. 2 418 Spatangus purpureus..lives in shell-gravel.
1977 Stornoway Gaz. 27 Aug. 4/9 These are well worth looking for in June or July in the grassland behind our many shell-sand beaches.
c. Of an artificial structure, vessel, etc.: Consisting or formed of a shell or shells; made from a shell or shells; ornamented with shells; (of a road, U.S.), having a bed or layer of shells.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > other animal raw materials > [adjective] > made of shell
shell1627
1627 T. May tr. Lucan Pharsalia (new ed.) ix. Q 8 b Whose shrill shell-trumpett seas and shores doo heare.
1637 T. Nabbes Microcosmus iv. F j b From a rock That weeps a running christall she [sc. Temperance] doth fill Her shell cup.
1699 J. Potter Archæologiæ Græcæ II. iii. ix. 87 Triton's Shell-trumpet is famous in Poetical Story.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. at Shell The effects of this shell-manure.
1756 M. Calderwood Lett. & Jrnls. (1884) iv. 99 The gardens are of great extent, with..shell grottos.
1836 T. Power Impressions of Amer. II. 99 We soon gained the shell road however, and found it as good as the streets of Mobile.
1844 Mrs. Houstoun Texas & Gulf of Mexico II. 17 There are but two drives in the neighbourhood of New Orleans—the old and new ‘Shell Roads’... They are..thickly covered..with small sea shells.
1845 J. Coulter Adventures Pacific xiii. 169 Bone or shell ear-rings.
1851 S. P. Woodward Man. Mollusca i. 46 The makers of shell-cameos avail themselves of this difference [of colour] to produce white or rose-coloured figures on a dark ground.
1853 C. Brontë Villette III. xxxi. 35 Slipping into his hand the ruddy little shell box.
1855 Knickerbocker Mag. 46 600 The ride or drive in itself is really a delightful one, and it is indebted to its own individual merits as a shell-road for it.
1873 J. H. Beadle Undevel. West 798 The omnibus rolled along the shell road as smoothly as if upon glass.
1878 B. Harte Man on Beach 55 Two or three highly-colored prints, a shell workbox, a ghastly winter bouquet of skeleton leaves and mosses.
1888 E. Custer Tenting on Plains The shell drive along the ocean.
1897 Outing (U.S.) 30 539/2 Across the white shell-roads ruffed grouse mince daintily out of the pedestrian's way.
1904 W. Churchill Crossing iii. v A white shell walk divided the garden.
1976 J. Fleming To make Underworld ii. 21 She makes these shell boxes, y'know..all stuck over with shells.
d. Of an implement: Hollow, or having a concave part.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > curved surface > [adjective] > concave
hollc1000
hollowa1250
denteda1398
concaved?1541
saddle-backed1545
vaulty1545
concave?a1560
sinuated1578
inboweda1586
inbowing1603
inwinding1610
hollowed1613
crusy1625
simous1634
invex1688
scooped1726
depressed1753
hollowed-out1755
scooping1821
shell1823
welled1848
concaving1871
incaved-
1823 P. Nicholson New Pract. Builder 254 The Taper-shell~bit is used for widening holes.
1823 J. Badcock Domest. Amusem. 179 The first tool used is an auger; the shell part..four inches in diameter.
1875 J. Lukin Carpentry & Joinery 31 For rough work..the shell augur alone is used.
e. Of the shape of a shell; (of material, trimming, etc.) having a shell pattern.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > ornamental textiles > ornamental trimmings > [adjective] > other
pompommed1753
shell1774
rouleau1820
rosetted1821
shirred1860
piped1879
befrogged1895
bobbled1955
swagged1959
1774 in Amer. Hist. Rev. (1899) 5 311 She is drest in a neat shell Callico Gown.
1780 J. Wedgwood Let. 21 Oct. in Sel. Lett. (1965) 260 I now expect to sell a good deal of his green shell pattern.
1840 J. Gaugain Lady's Assistant 142 Shell pattern, or half square for a quilt or counterpane.
1870 A. D. T. Whitney We Girls v. 81 Shell-trimmings and flutings.
1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 92 Shell Couching, a Flat Couching, in which the securing stitches are arranged in half curves, and bear some resemblance to the shape of a scallop shell.
1885 W. J. E. Crane Bookbinding xiii. 101 The pattern called large brown French, or shell pattern.
1894 Daily News 26 Apr. 9/1 ‘The shell chair’, which is like a scallop shell.
1897 Private Life of Queen xxii. 180 The enormous ‘shell pattern’ service of knives, forks and spoons.
1967 E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage iii. 68 Aluminium templates can be bought in a number of geometric shapes and also a shell pattern.
f. Made of tortoiseshell. ? U.S.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > other animal raw materials > [adjective] > made of tortoise-shell
tortoiseshell1651
tortoise1702
shell1858
1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Shell-comb, a lady's comb for the hair, or a toilet comb, made of tortoiseshell.
a1884 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Suppl. 805/1 Shell-piece, one of the shields of tortoise-shell or horn, used with spring eye-glasses which clasp the nose.
1896 Harper's Mag. Apr. 808/1 She replaced the dagger with a shell pin from her own hair.
C3. (In sense 21.)
a. Simple attributive.
shell-burst n.
ΚΠ
1917 W. Owen Let. 2 Mar. (1967) 440 Did you see any shell-bursts?
1919 Daily Mail Year Bk. 48/1 He has been lucky enough to escape any large shell-bursts quite close to his machine.
1920 Blackwood's Mag. Apr. 508/2 The appalling crash of the shell-burst.
1980 G. M. Fraser Mr American xxvi. 556 It wis a shell-burst that Ah stopped.
shell crater n.
ΚΠ
1916 ‘B. Cable’ Action Front 49 The neutral ground..was a sea of mud, broken by heaped earth and yawning shell craters.
1977 J. Cleary High Road to China i. 32 I..was trapped in a shell crater with three dead men.
shell-fire n.
ΚΠ
1900 W. S. Churchill in Morning Post 25 June 5/7 In spite of an accurate shellfire they continued to advance boldly against the highest part of the hill.
1977 Listener 28 Apr. 559/2 They had had built a reinforced concrete pillbox—a shelter against the shrapnel and the unceasing shellfire.
shell fougasse n.
ΚΠ
1834 J. S. Macaulay Treat. Field Fortification 208 Common and shell fougasses produce an effect only near to their craters.
shell-gun n.
ΚΠ
1858 W. Greener Gunnery in 1858 135 The accurate and long-range firing of such rifled shell-guns.
1940 Flight 12 Dec. 522/2 The shell-gun or ‘cannon’ has been in action mounted in the machines of Fighter Command.
shell-hole n.
ΚΠ
1916 ‘B. Cable’ Action Front 141 The stretcher-bearers who lifted him from the shell-hole.
1971 S. Hill Strange Meeting iii. 203 Then suddenly they came between the stumps of some trees, dropped down into a shell hole.
shell-madness n.
ΚΠ
1923 R. Kipling Irish Guards in Great War I. 329 A dazed day of ‘shell-madness’, when all ears and eyes were intolerably overburdened with echoes and pictures.
shell-room n.
ΚΠ
1805 Shipwright's Vade-mecum 130 Shell-rooms, a compartment in a bomb-vessel, fitted up with shelves to receive bomb-shells when charged.
shell-shop n.
ΚΠ
1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 16 The shell-shop, where they [shells] are taken in and finished.
shell-splinter n.
ΚΠ
1910 W. S. Churchill in R. S. Churchill W. S. Churchill (1967) I. Compan. ii. 1071 The driver..was wounded severely in the scalp by a shell-splinter almost immediately.
1974 N. Freeling Dressing of Diamond 137 He had been ripped by a shell splinter and sewn up casually.
shell-splinter-proof adj.
ΚΠ
1914 Illustr. London News 17 Oct. 549/1 Men of the Naval Brigade making the trenches shell-splinter-proof.
shell-storm n.
ΚΠ
1903 P. de B. Radcliffe tr. G. Rouquerol Tactical Employment Quick-firing Field Artillery ii. i. 33 To obtain the instantaneous effect, to produce that which he [sc. General Langlois] vividly termed the rafale, or shell-storm, he conceived a special device which he called ‘échelon fire’.
1914 Sphere 3 Oct. 8/1 The second diagram shows a ‘rafale’, or ‘shell-storm’. This is the method practised by batteries of French artillery to prevent the advance of infantry.
shell-trap n.
ΚΠ
1879 Encycl. Brit. IX. 461/2 Such shell-traps..are scrupulously avoided by modern [military] engineers.
1923 R. Kipling Irish Guards in Great War I. 97 Annequin..had become more than ever a shell-trap.
b. Objective.
shell-dodging adj.
ΚΠ
1917 ‘Contact’ Airman's Outings 241 Freed from the immediate necessity of shell-dodging.
shell-filling adj.
ΚΠ
1884 Milit. Engin. (ed. 3) I. ii. 101 A shell-filling room.
shell-firing adj.
ΚΠ
1858 W. Greener Gunnery in 1858 132 Shell firing was next tried at a distance of 1,500 yards.
1900 W. S. Churchill in Morning Post 1 Jan. 6/1 The shell-firing Maxim continued its work.
1942 R.A.F. Jrnl. 16 May 15 These include..constant-speed 3-blade propeller; shell-firing guns; wireless and oxygen equipment.
c. Adverb.
(a)
shell drawer n.
ΚΠ
1868 C. B. Norton & W. J. Valentine Rep. to Govt. U.S. on Munitions of War at Paris Universal Exhib. 1867 31 The carrier-block moves the shell-drawer and causes it to draw out the discharged shell from the chamber.
shell gauge n.
ΚΠ
1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Shell-gage (Ordnance), an instrument for verifying the thickness of hollow projectiles.
shell hoist n.
ΚΠ
1889 J. J. Welch Text Bk. Naval Archit. xii. 132 The shell hoist..is provided with a cowl.
shell wall n.
ΚΠ
1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 29 Now that steel is used instead of iron the shell-wall is much thinner.
(b)
shell-pitted adj.
ΚΠ
1918 W. S. Churchill Let. 12 Sept. in M. Gilbert W. S. Churchill (1975) IV. i. vii. 147 For an hour we ran through devastated, shell pitted facias—scraggy shreds of woods.
shell-pocked adj.
ΚΠ
1925 Scribner's Mag. Sept. 234/2 Only the 49th lay perforce in the open, on a bleak, shell-pocked slope.
shell-proof adj.
ΚΠ
1864 Webster's Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Shell-proof, capable of resisting bomb shells.
shell-smitten adj.
ΚΠ
1917 J. Masefield Old Front Line 71 It has been more burnt and shell-smitten than most parts of the lines.
shell-stricken adj.
ΚΠ
1901 ‘Linesman’ Words by Eyewitness (1902) iii. 40 The most shell-stricken kopje in South Africa.
shell-torn adj.
ΚΠ
1891 R. Kipling Light that Failed ii. 23 A clump of shell-torn bodies.
1918 W. Owen Let. 4 Jan. (1967) 525 He was badly wounded, and..still wears the shell-torn boots.
1949 S. Spender Edge of Being 24 Moving in death through shell-torn tenements.
C4. (In sense 15.)
ΚΠ
1833 Q. Jrnl. Educ. 5 40 Fifth Form... Shell Form... Sixth Form.
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. v. 315 It was the prescribed quantity of Homer for a shell lesson.
1867 W. L. Collins Westm. in Public Schools viii. 178 At the end of this room [the schoolroom] there is a kind of semicircular apse, in which the ‘shell’ form were formerly taught.
C5. (In sense 18.) Of boats of a light racing form; hence of a race rowed by such boats.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessels propelled by oars or poles > [adjective] > light or racing
shell1858
best and best1862
1858 O. W. Holmes Autocrat of Breakfast-table in Atlantic Monthly May 878/1 A ‘skeleton’ or ‘shell’ race-boat.
1873 Forest & Stream 25 Sept. 108/1 A new four-oared shell boat.
1873 Forest & Stream 25 Sept. 108/1 A four-oared shell race.
C6. (In sense 25b.)
shell company n.
ΚΠ
1958 Economist 15 Mar. 957/1 Shell companies have nothing to do with oil. They are corporate entities empty of their trading assets; they hold only cash or near cash assets in their balance sheets and otherwise have nothing but a stock exchange quotation—which is essential.
1977 Irish Press 29 Sept. 7/7 It was in April 1972 that Fitzwilliam Resources, of the same stock that formed Fitzwilliam Securities and Fitzwilton Ltd., (the Irish ‘shell’ company, which is now a shadow of its former self), took a 6 per cent stake in Tara.
shell corporation n.
ΚΠ
1969 Wall St. Jrnl. 3 July 4/2 The Securities and Exchange Commission said it's disturbed by the increasing use of inactive ‘shell’ corporations as vehicles for distributing unregistered stock to the public.
1974 A. A. Thompson Swiss Legacy xx. 204 They are shell corporations... They have no assets, no activities, nothing. They are merely conduits for money going elsewhere.
shell game n.
ΚΠ
1969 N.Y. Rev. Books 2 Jan. 42/3 What becomes almost obscene about such a reactionary shell game..is that these very same corporate chiefs are right now planning an increase in unemployment.
shell operation n.
ΚΠ
1977 F. Branston Up & Coming Man xi. 108 A shell operation, where you buy a dormant or nearly defunct company and inject assets into it.
shell transaction n.
ΚΠ
1958 Spectator 11 July 68/3 This should put a stop to ‘shell’ transactions.
C7. Special combinations:
shell-back n. (a) jocular a sailor, esp. a hardened or experienced one; also transferred; (b) a marine turtle.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > reptiles > order Chelonia (turtles and tortoises) > [noun] > turtles or sea-tortoises
sea-tortoise1601
soldier1608
turtle1657
thalassian1852
shell-back1853
turkle1861
fish1898
society > travel > travel by water > one who travels by water or sea > sailor > types of sailor > [noun] > old or experienced sailor
hale bowline1627
sea-dog1823
stationer1826
old salt1828
salt1840
shell-back1853
sea-daddy1899
1853 J. T. Downey Filings from Old Saw (1956) vi. 30 Both the nerve of 14 strong armed shell-backs, and the occasional disbursement of an extra tot of whiskey, kept her going.
1883 W. C. Russell Jack's Courtship i It takes a sailor a long time to..get quit of the bold sheer that earns him the name of shell-back.
1891–4 R. L. Stevenson in G. Balfour Life R. L. Stevenson (1911) 249 The arrival of strange old shell-back guests out of every quarter of the island world.
1905 A. I. Shand Days of Past iii. 38 The shellbacks from the Caribbean Sea or Ascension floating in the tanks.
1943 A. Ransome Picts & Martyrs xi. 103 He felt as if he was going to sit for an examination and he wanted to make no mistakes with those two old shellbacks, Nancy and Peggy, as examiners.
1959 J. Cary Captive & Free 207 The old hulk was full of crabs—there doesn't seem to be anything else in the sub-editor's room. Old shellbacks that have been chewing on Fowler for forty years.
1963 Listener 21 Feb. 350/3 I have no doubt a lot of right-wing shell-backs are now conceding, with blimpish magnanimity, that there's really something to be said for these young fellows after all.
1974 Times 9 Dec. 13/3 In both division lobbies right-wingers rubbed shoulders with left-wingers, shellbacks with parliamentary apprentices.
shell-backed adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [adjective] > skilled or experienced
oldOE
well-usedc1300
experientc1420
way-wisea1460
pertly1466
practica1522
perite1530
well-practised1539
well-experienced1541
practised1548
experienced1576
veteran1624
practical1632
well-seasoned1640
seasoneda1643
callent1656
versant1766
used1786
salted1864
roteda1901
shell-backed1930
1930 R. Campbell Adamastor 30 A shell-backed saint, whom time maroons.
1972 Daily Tel. 29 Dec. 7/8 Mr Marcus is always eloquent when he is contrasting innocence with shell-backed experience.
shell-bake v. to overheat an egg that is being incubated so as to kill (the bird).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > heating or making hot > heat or make hot [verb (transitive)] > excessively > specifically an egg being incubated
shell-bake1815
1815 J. Mayer Sportsman's Direct. 107 The silk hens are the best for the act of incubation, the heat of the common hens being apt to shellbake the birds in the eggs.
shell beach n. a beach composed wholly or predominantly of seashells; spec. the name of one such on the Channel Island of Herm.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > land mass > shore or bank > seashore or coast > [noun] > beach or foreshore > spec
shingle1513
hard1728
shell beach1835
private beach1859
storm-beach1882
pocket beach1893
1835 H. D. Inglis Channel Islands 323 Herm possesses another attraction,..its shell beach.
1838 Penny Cycl. 11 472/2 What is called ‘the shell beach’ extends from half to three-quarters of a mile along the shore, and is composed of small perfect shells and fragments of larger ones, without any intermixture..of pebbles or sand.
1915 E. R. Lankester Diversions of Naturalist 144 The shells which are accumulated as shell-beaches have come from animals which lived in quantity at depths of ten or twenty fathoms.
1964 H. Myhill Introd. Channel Islands v. 114 It is possibly the situation of this beach..which has led to the accumulation there of countless thousands of shells of great variety. There are said to be over five hundred distinct species represented, and they have given it the name of the Shell Beach.
shell-bearing adj. = conchiferous adj. 1, 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Pelecypoda or Conchifera > [adjective] > of bivalve molluscs or shells
cardinal1809
conchyliferous1811
transverse1822
conchiferous1833
transversal1835
tellinoid1841
shell-bearing1844
saxicavous1850
auriculate1854
pelecypodous1857
sinupallial1863
tubivalve1882
sinupalliate1883
pelecypod1890
taxodont1895
1844 Athenæum 5 Oct. 902/3 A species of shell-bearing annelid, the Ditrupa.
1880 A. R. Wallace Island Life 168 Shell-bearing gravels.
shell-bird n. (a) Canadian the red-breasted merganser, Mergus serrator; (b) nonce-use a tortoise.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Anseriformes (geese, etc.) > subfamily Merginae (duck) > [noun] > genus Mergus (merganser) > mergus serrator (red-breasted merganser)
red-breasted goosander1747
shell-bird1770
red-breasted merganser1776
serula1802
hairy-crown1888
hairy-head1888
1770 G. Cartwright Jrnl. Resid. Coast Labrador 2 Oct. (1792) I. 40 They returned with three shellbirds and a saddleback.
1921 D. H. Lawrence Tortoises 12 Nay, tiny shell-bird, What a huge vast inanimate it is, that you must row against.
1973 E. Goudie Woman of Labrador ii. iv. 102 Shell birds are not very good eating because they taste very fishy.
shell-blow n. a call blown on a horn made of a large species of shell (e.g. a conch-shell).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > signalling > audible signalling > signalling with other sounding instruments > [noun] > signal on conch-shell
shell-blow1828
shell-blowing1869
1828 Marly: Planter's Life in Jamaica 50 This mode of working continued till shell-blow at half past one by the sun-dial.
1861 G. Blyth Reminisc. Miss. Life ii. 54 At noon or, as it was called, the shellblow time.
shell-blowing n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > signalling > audible signalling > signalling with other sounding instruments > [noun] > signal on conch-shell
shell-blow1828
shell-blowing1869
1869 Routledge's Every Boy's Ann. 178 All sounds of shell-blowing had ceased.
shell-bound adj. designating birds which are unable to break through the shell when hatching.
ΚΠ
1905 Kynoch Jrnl. Apr.–June 72 Reports from several estates complain of shell-bound chicks.
† shell-bread n. Obsolete a kind of bread or biscuit baked in large mussel-shells.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > bread > [noun] > bread baked in specific way
oven bread1600
shell-bread1665
griddle-bread1841
kettle-bread1882
1665 R. May Accomplisht Cook (ed. 2) 274 To make Shell Bread.
shell-breaker n. an instrument used in lithotomy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical appliances or equipment > surgical instruments > [noun] > instruments used in lithotomy or lithotripsy
stone-drawer1598
itinerary1689
itinerarium1706
litholabon1731
lithotome1739
lithotriptor1825
lithotritor1828
shell-breaker1830
lithotrite1839
litholabe1846
cystotome1847
lithoclast1847
finger-director1860
lithotripter1982
1830 S. Cooper Dict. Pract. Surg. (ed. 6) 815/1 For small stones..the ‘shell-breaker’ only is used.
shell-briar adj. designating a type of tobacco-pipe with a rough, dark-stained stem and bowl.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > tobacco > smoking > articles or materials used in smoking > [noun] > pipe > other types of pipe
calumet1717
pillow pipe1752
meerschaum1799
corn-cob pipe1832
bulldog1885
plague pipe1892
Peterson1906
shell-briar1972
1972 M. J. Bosse Incident at Naha i. 17 He..lit a pipe, his largest shell-briar Apple.
1977 A. Scholefield Venom v. 203 The chubby face, from which the fragrant bowl of a shell-briar emerged.
shell button n. (see quots.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > parts of clothing > [noun] > fastenings > button > types of
hair-button1593
frog1635
bar-button1685
frost button1686
sleeve-button1686
berry-button1702
stud1715
pearl button1717
breast button1742
bell-button1775
shell button1789
red button1797
olivet1819
bullet-buttons1823
basket-button1836
all-over1838
top1852
olive1890
pearly1890
nail head1892
1789 Deb. Congr. U.S. 29 Aug. (1834) 796 An exclusive patent..for manufacturing shell buttons of different dimensions.
1845 P. Barlow Manuf. in Encycl. Metrop. VIII. 608/2 Shell buttons are those which consist of a back made of bone without any shank but corded with catgut.
1852 C. Tomlinson Cycl. Useful Arts (1854) I. 263/1 There are..buttons in which the convex front is closed in behind with another piece of metal, also convex on the outer surface, but less so than the front. These are called shell buttons.
† shell-cap n. Obsolete ? a lace cap of shell pattern.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > headgear > [noun] > cap > types of > made from specific material > other
lettice cap1544
jack-cap1694
paper cap?1697
Dutch cap1726
napkin-cap1735
shell-cap1794
raccoon cap1840
1794 H. L. Piozzi Brit. Synonymy I. 359 She gained about 350l. 'tis said, and laid out two hundred of the money instantly in a shell-cap.
shell cocoa n. the husks of cocoa-beans or the drink made from an infusion of these.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > cocoa > [noun]
chocolate1604
cacao1625
chocolate cup1687
milk chocolate1723
cocoa tea1747
cocoa1786
hot chocolate1789
hot cocoa1824
shell cocoa1902
drinking chocolate1920
shell shock1935
kye1943
1902 J. T. Law Grocer's Man. (ed. 2) 1170/2 Shell cocoa.
1909 J. Joyce Let. 21 Aug. (1966) II. 238 I sent Nora a stone of shell cocoa. Pay the duty on it which cannot be high and see that Nora takes it every morning and evening.
1922 W. B. Yeats Trembling of Veil ii. xiii. 119 She had lived for many weeks upon bread and shell-cocoa, so that her food never cost her more than a penny a day.
shell concrete n. Building concrete used in shell construction.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > concrete > [noun] > types of
tabby1802
beton1813
granolithic1881
reinforced concrete1891
ferro-concrete1896
armoured concrete1898
re-enforced concrete1902
breeze-concrete1930
mass concrete1930
Siporex1938
grano1940
shell concrete1949
no-fines1960
1949 Archit. Rev. 106 302/2 The boiler house, which has a shell-concrete roof.
1958 Times 23 Sept. 16/3 The structures he [sc. Candela] has designed there—mostly in shell-concrete—have begun to attract attention far outside Mexico.
shell construction n. Building the use of thin curved shells (sense 12b above) to roof areas having wide spans.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > building or providing with specific parts > [noun] > roofing > other processes
sarking1464
shell construction1946
topping out1961
1946 Archit. Rev. 100 8 The roofs of the canteen and the concert studio are of shell construction, 4·8 in. thickness.
1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia IV. 1078/1 Shell construction, where the strength of a thin curved concrete membrane is used advantageously to produce a light and aesthetic roof capable of bridging wide spaces without appreciable bending.
shell egg n. an egg in its natural state in the shell (opposed to dried egg: cf. dried adj. 1).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > eggs > [noun] > in natural state
shell egg1943
1942 Sun (Baltimore) 18 Feb. 24/7 There are, according to experts, three kinds of markets for eggs—shell (direct-to-consumer variety), frozen and dried.]
1943 E. Oliver Night Thoughts of Country Landlady viii. 60 Before buying the very small but essential allowance of grain required to make these hens lay, you must hand over your coupons for ‘Shell Eggs’.
1949 S. Gibbons Matchmaker i. 11 On Tuesday we have bacon and egg pie, Father, and on Wednesday boiled shell eggs.
1972 Guardian 24 Mar. 10/8 Present minimum import prices for shell eggs and for..dried whole egg are to continue unchanged.
shell-fire n. dialect phosphorescence or lambent fire seen enveloping or issuing from bodies (see quots.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > light emitted under particular conditions > [noun] > phosphorescence > phosphorescent substance or organism > phosphorus
phosphorus1680
phosphor1706
shell-fire1770
phos1811
1770 J. Langhorne & W. Langhorne tr. Plutarch Lives (1879) I. 138 A bright flame was always considered as a fortunate omen, whether it were a real one issuing from an altar, or a seeming one (what we call shell-fire) from the head of a living person.
1787 F. Grose Provinc. Gloss. Suppl. Fairy-sparks, or Shel-fire, electric sparks, often seen on clothes at night. Kent.
1847 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words II Shell-fire, the phosphorescence sometimes exhibited in farm-yards, &c., from decayed straw, &c. or touch~wood.
shell-flowers n. ‘ornaments made with small shells, plain or coloured’ (1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > types of ornamentation > [noun] > artificial flowers and fruit
paper flower1580
shell-flowers1739
artificial1840
wax flower1843
stone-fruit1851
flower1881
Japanese flower1917
1739 M. Delany Autobiogr. & Corr. (1861) II. 37 I wish you could safely send me the antique shell nosegay; I am going to fill a glass case with shell-flowers.
shell-game n. U.S. a sleight-of-hand swindling game in which a small object is concealed under a walnut shell or the like, and bets are made as to which shell the object is under; also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > sleight-of-hand games > [noun]
thimblerig1825
coddam1830
thimblerigging1839
thimbleriggery1841
three-card trick1887
tip-it1889
shell-game1890
find the lady1918
1890 B. Hall Turnover Club 169 Would endeavour to make a collection of Japanese coins, with their cards and a shell game.
1899 Philistine ix. 157 All the people who work the filological shell-game.
1942 Sun (Baltimore) 19 Mar. 19/6 The defendant pleaded innocent to charges of operating a shell game.
1972 Times Lit. Suppl. 29 Dec. 1570/1 Both memory and history are shell games.
1977 Rolling Stone 21 Apr. 88/2 Both of them create with the sleight of hand of a shell-game swindler.
shell-gland n. (a) an excretory organ beneath the shell in the lower crustaceans; (b) the shell-secreting gland of a mollusc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Mollusca > [noun] > mollusc or shell-fish > parts of mollusc
ungulaa1382
mantlea1475
trunk1661
diaphragm1665
lid1681
operculum1681
ear1688
beard1697
corslet1753
scar1793
opercle1808
pleura1826
pallium1834
byssus1835
cephalic ganglia1835–6
opercule1836
lingual ribbon1839
tube1839
cloak1842
test1842
collar1847
testa1847
rachis1851
uncinus1851
land-shell1853
mantle cavity1853
mesopodium1853
propodium1853
radula1853
malacology1854
gill comb1861
pallial cavity1862
tongue-tootha1877
mesopode1877
odontophore1877
pallial chamber1877
shell-gland1877
rasp1879
protopodium1880
ctenidium1883
osphradium1883
shell-sac1883
tooth-ribbon1883
megalaesthete1885
rachidian1900
scungille1953
tentacle-sheath-
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > member of > parts of > excretory organ
shell-gland1877
1877 T. H. Huxley Man. Anat. Invertebrated Animals vi. 268 At the sides of the latter [carapace], two coiled tubes with clear contents, the so-called shell-glands, are seen.
1883 E. Ray Lankester in Encycl. Brit. XVI. 639/2 The embryonic shell-sac or shell-gland.
shell-gold n. [see sense 2e] gold for painting or writing, laid in a mussel-shell.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > writing materials > materials for illumination > [noun]
limning gold1420
shell-gold1573
shell-silver1573
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > equipment for painting or drawing > [noun] > silver or gold for painting
shell-gold1573
shell-silver1573
gold shell?1675
1573 Treat. Arte of Limming fo. iiij If you will buye at the Potecaries shell golde or shell silver, with the which (being tempered with gumme water) you may verye well write with a pen.
1675 A. Browne Ars Pictoria (ed. 2) App. 25 Cover over the Rais'd Work with the finest Shell Gold.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Gold Shell Gold is that us'd by the Illuminers... After leaving it to infuse some time in Aqua fortis, they put it in Shells, where it sticks.
1758 R. Dossie Handmaid to Arts 391 When the gold powders are used along with paintings in water colours, it is previously formed into shell gold... This shell gold is prepared by tempering the gold powder with very weak gum water.
1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 803 When great brilliancy is not wanted, shell-gold may be used instead of gold leaf, to gild upon the size.
shell-gritted adj. Archaeology denoting a ware made of a paste mixed with particles of shell.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > clay compositions > baked clay > pottery or ceramics > [adjective] > other ancient
Belgic1892
cardial1939
pit-comb1954
shell-gritted1954
Lapita1971
1954 S. Piggott Neolithic Cultures Brit. Isles iii. 108 A bowl of typically ‘Abingdon’ shell-gritted ware from Great Ponton in south Lincolnshire.
1965 I. F. Smith Windmill Hill & Avebury v. 50 The heavier rims are decorated more often than the simple and rolled rims, and shell-gritted ware more often than flint-gritted.
shell-heap n. a mound of domestic remains consisting mainly of refuse shells accumulated by peoples who subsisted on shellfish.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > refuse or rubbish > [noun] > domestic > heap of, prehistoric or indigenous
kitchen midden1861
shell-mound1863
midden1866
mirrnyong1878
shell-heap1882
mound1908
1882 E. A. Barber in Amer. Antiquarian 4 201 Mr. Tooker informs me further that he has found perfect clay pipes on shell heaps and on the sites of aboriginal villages.
shell-hearing n. in ‘psychical research’, the induction of hallucinatory voices by listening with the ear to the aperture of a shell.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > the paranormal > [noun] > clairaudience > by listening to aperture of shell
shell-hearing1893
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > fancy or fantastic notion > deceptive fancy or illusion > [noun] > inducing with shell
shell-hearing1893
1893 Tablet 22 July 126 Miss X who is understood to be very gifted..in crystal vision and in shell-hearing.
† shell-house n. Obsolete a grotto.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > garden > division or part of garden > [noun] > grotto or alcove
grotto1625
grotc1660
shell-housec1660
alcove1663
c1660 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1644 (1955) II. 108 A Grotto or shell house.
1756 T. Amory Life John Buncle I. 46 The operation required in a shell-house.
shell ice n. Canadian = cat-ice n. at cat n.1 Compounds 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > ice > [noun] > thin
thin ice1625
skim1807
black ice1827
tickly-benders1853
shell ice1875
cat-ice1884
rubber ice1895
sheet icec1900
skim ice1938
1875 United Service Mag. 139 42 [It] is brittle and bad for skating, ‘shell-ice’ as it is called.
1977 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 9 Mar. 36/7 Travel isn't too good. There's shell ice with pockets of water underneath and flooding around the cracks and heaves, but no actual danger yet.
shell-jacket n. an undress tight-fitting military jacket, short in the back.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > jacket > worn by specific people > the military
buff-jerkin1598
shell1802
raggie1828
shell-jacket1840
fatigue-jacket1852
dolman1883
maternity jacket1925
maternity1958
1840 E. E. Napier Scenes & Sports Foreign Lands II. iv. 114 As travellers, unprovided with our traps, we appeared there in shell jackets.
1868 Queen's Regul. Army §608 The ‘surplus kit’..being carried in the squad bags,..viz.: 1 shell jacket, 1 pair socks, 1 shirt, 1 towell [etc.].
shell-keep n. a form of Norman keep built on a mound (usually the site of an older fortress).
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > defence > defensive work(s) > castle or fortified building > [noun] > small castle > type of
shell-keep1868
1868 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1877) II. 197 The true castle of Montgomery..no square donjon, but a vast shell-keep on a mighty mound.
shell-lime n. lime made by burning seashells.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > lime materials > [noun] > lime made from specific materials
stone-lime1707
shell-lime1793
sugar-lime1868
1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §189 Shell Lime, that is, Cockle or other shells burnt.
1875 W. McIlwraith Guide Wigtownshire 39 The antiquity of this very thick old wall is seen from its stones having been run together with hot shell-lime.
shell-man n. U.S. a swindler who plays the shell-game.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > sleight-of-hand games > [noun] > player
thimble-man1830
thimblerigger1831
thimblerig1839
charley-pitcher1859
shell-man1902
1902 Daily Chron. 24 Sept. 5/2 The shell-man whom she hired was the success of the evening, and gallantly handed back the bills of large denominations which the guests passed over to him in making their bets, ‘just for fun.’
† shell-meat n. Obsolete edible shellfish.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > seafood > [noun] > shell-fish or mollusc
shell-meat1642
coquillage1851
mariscos1932
scungille1953
1642 T. Fuller Holy State v. xi. 402 Sacraments, like to shelmeats, may be eaten after fowl hands, without any harm.
shell midden n. Archaeology = shell-heap n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > history or knowledge about the past > [noun] > archaeology > remains of habitation
shell midden1924
1924 Proc. Prehistoric Soc. E. Anglia 1923–4 4 ii. 206 Directly resting upon the brickearth was a shell midden.
1971 Nature 11 June 397/2 Between 1881 and 1913 three Mesolithic ‘shell midden’ sites were excavated on the Island of Oronsay in the Inner Hebrides.
† shell-mine n. Obsolete (see quot. a1650).
ΚΠ
a1650 G. Boate Irelands Nat. Hist. (1652) xvi. 129 The Mine hath the name of..Shel-mine, for the following reason: for this stuff or Oar being neither loose..as earth.., neither firm..as stone, is of a middle substance..composed of shels or scales.
shell model n. Nuclear Physics a theoretical description of nuclear structure in which the nucleus is considered to consist of nucleons arranged in shells (sense 19b).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > [noun] > distribution or structure of nucleons > specific model
Rutherford model1913
shell model1946
optical model1952
1946 Physical Rev. 69 538 On the shell model the radius should be equal to Gamow's radius plus the radius of the alpha-particle.
1970 I. E. McCarthy Nuclear Reactions i. iv. 83 The independent particle model for finite nuclei is the shell model.
shell-money n. = wampum n.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > other mediums of exchange > [noun] > beads
roanoke1615
wampumpeag1627
Indian money1634
wampum1636
peag1638
seawant1701
hiaqua1824
shell-money1851
1851 J. F. W. Johnston Notes N. Amer. II. 465 From the purple interior of this shell the wampum or shell-money of the Indians was prepared.
shell-mould n. a mould made in this way.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > other specific types of equipment > [noun] > moulds or shaping equipment
mouldc1330
share mould1568
matrice1587
matrix1626
form1655
ice mould1781
intaglio1825
hand mould1829
striker1843
wax-mould1849
Savoy mould1866
snap-flask1875
moulding board1882
pipe diea1884
injection mould1945
shell-mould1950
1947 F.I.A.T. Final Rep. No. 1168 (Brit. Intelligence Objectives Sub-Comm.) 2 Such a bed helps the thin mold shell resist the hydrostatic pressure of the influent liquid metal.]
1950 Materials & Methods Aug. 45/3 For the investigation of the metallurgical characteristics of the tin bronze alloys as affected by plastic bonded shell molds, a master pattern plate is being utilized.
1973 J. G. Tweeddale Materials Technol. II. ii. 39 Since, for simplicity, a shell mould is made up from two, outer shell parts, it is not always possible to build in the best pouring channel system.
shell-moulding n. in Founding, a method of making moulds and cores in which a shell of resin-bonded sand is formed in parts around a heated metal pattern, the parts being joined together after removal of the pattern.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > working with specific materials > working with metal > [noun] > founding or casting > specific processes involved in
rapping1851
false coring1866
sweeping1902
jar ramming1909
jolt ramming1909
jolt-squeeze1931
shell-moulding1951
1951 Iron Age 15 Nov. 111/1 The Builders Iron Foundry has been working with the Croning Process, or shell molding method of producing castings.
1979 J. Neely Pract. Metall. & Materials of Industry xxiv. 325/2 The advantages of shell molding over other forms of sand casting are that high precision, good finishes, and more complex shapes are possible, and less machining is needed.
shell-mound n. = shell-heap n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > refuse or rubbish > [noun] > domestic > heap of, prehistoric or indigenous
kitchen midden1861
shell-mound1863
midden1866
mirrnyong1878
shell-heap1882
mound1908
1863 D. Wilson Prehistoric Ann. Scotl. (ed. 2) I. i. i. 36 Ancient shell-mounds..the supposed kitchen refuse of the aborigines.
1865 J. Lubbock Prehist. Times vi. 185 ‘Shell-mound’ axes..present a peculiar form.
1879 J. Lubbock Sci. Lect. v. 156 The dog is the only domestic animal found in the shell-mounds.
† shell-naked adj. Obsolete ? as bare as an eggshell.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > feather > [adjective] > featherless
featherlessc1460
unfeathered1570
plumeless1604
impennous1646
shell-naked1681
1681 C. Cotton Wonders of Peake 33 A Goose..Which out of Peaks-Arse..was seen Shell-naked sally, rifled of her plume.
shell-opal n. (see quot.).
ΚΠ
1851 S. P. Woodward Man. Mollusca i. 16 One of the most beautiful substances in nature is the shell opal, formed of the remains of the ammonite.
shell-paste n. thin paste for lining a pie-dish, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > pastry > [noun] > thin pastry
lozen?c1390
obleya1425
abesse1725
shell-paste1752
1752 E. Moxon Eng. Housewifery (new ed.) 100 Make a little shell-paste, and line your tins.
shell-plate n. one of the plates forming the outer shell of a vessel, boiler, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > boiler > [noun] > parts of > plates
shell1839
shell-plate1857
tube-plate1864
throat plate1872
tube-sheet1877
shell-plating1894
tube-head1911
1857 J. G. Wood Common Objects Sea Shore 24 Upon this leathery mantle are placed eight shell-plates, which overlap each other.
1869 E. J. Reed Shipbuilding xix. 422 The sides of the poop and forecastle to be one third lighter than the shell plates amidships.
1899 Daily Tel. 18 Jan. 6/6 Shell-plate boilers improve as time goes on.
shell-plating n.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > boiler > [noun] > parts of > plates
shell1839
shell-plate1857
tube-plate1864
throat plate1872
tube-sheet1877
shell-plating1894
tube-head1911
1894 W. H. White Man. Naval Archit. (ed. 3) 333 Iron or steel ships have comparatively thin shell-plating stiffened by transverse and longitudinal frames.
shell-pump n. = sand-pump n. at sand n.2 Compounds 2a.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > pump > [noun] > other types of pump
bottom lift1778
rose pump1778
centrifugal pump1789
jack-heada1792
jet pump1850
sand-pump1865
Union pump1867
shell-pump1875
eductor1877
brake-pump1881
bull-pump1881
cam-pumpa1884
sand-reel1883
grasshopper1884
knapsack pump1894
knapsack sprayer1897
turbo-pump1903
Sylphon1906
slush pump1913
displacement pump1924
power pack1937
proportioner1945
solids pump1957
peristaltic pump1958
powerhead1981
Cornish pump-
1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Shell-pump, a tube with a clack-valve at its foot, used for removing the detritus from a bored shaft.
shell rock n. North American hard rock consisting largely of compacted seashells.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > concretion or petrifaction > [noun] > specific
wood-stone1794
shell rock1807
petrified forest1830
biolith1852
dogger1876
spongolite1945
1807 J. Barlow Columbiad ix. 321 And mark thy native orb!.. What an age her shell-rock ribs attest!
1837 J. L. Williams Territory of Florida 56 The bank is formed of concrete shell rock.
1935 H. L. Davis Honey in Horn xvi. 261 The road under the horses' feet was black shellrock.
shell-roll n. (see quot. 1892).
ΚΠ
1892 J. Nasmith Students' Cotton Spinning 164 The top rollers are almost universally made for the front line of a drawing frame of the Leigh loose boss type. This is called in America the ‘shell roll’.
shell roof n. a roof consisting of a shell (sense 12b above).
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > roof > [noun] > types of roof generally
vaulta1387
plat-roofa1425
pend1454
faunsere1460
compassed roofa1552
terrace1572
sotie1578
crown1588
arch-roof1594
arch1609
under-roof1611
concameration1644
voltoa1660
hip roof1663
French roof1669
oversail1673
jerkinhead1703
mansard1704
curb-roof1733
shed roof1736
gable roof1759
gambrel roof1761
living roof1792
pent roof1794
span-roof1823
wagon-head1823
azotea1824
rafter roof1825
rooflet1825
wagon-vault1835
bell-roof1842
spire-roof1842
cradle-roof1845
packsaddle roof1845
open roof1847
umbrella roof1847
gambrel1848
packsaddle1848
compass-roof1849
saddleback1849
saddle roof1850
curbed roof1866
wagon-roof1866
saw-tooth roof1900
trough roof1905
skillion roof1911
north-light roof1923
shell roof1954
green roof1984
knee-roof-
1954 G. Magnel Prestressed Concrete (ed. 3) x. 303 (caption) Prestressed beams for shell roof.
1972 R. E. Owen Roofs vi. 91 Most shell roofs are easy to drain to their edges or ends.
shell-sac n. = shell-gland n. (b).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Mollusca > [noun] > mollusc or shell-fish > parts of mollusc
ungulaa1382
mantlea1475
trunk1661
diaphragm1665
lid1681
operculum1681
ear1688
beard1697
corslet1753
scar1793
opercle1808
pleura1826
pallium1834
byssus1835
cephalic ganglia1835–6
opercule1836
lingual ribbon1839
tube1839
cloak1842
test1842
collar1847
testa1847
rachis1851
uncinus1851
land-shell1853
mantle cavity1853
mesopodium1853
propodium1853
radula1853
malacology1854
gill comb1861
pallial cavity1862
tongue-tootha1877
mesopode1877
odontophore1877
pallial chamber1877
shell-gland1877
rasp1879
protopodium1880
ctenidium1883
osphradium1883
shell-sac1883
tooth-ribbon1883
megalaesthete1885
rachidian1900
scungille1953
tentacle-sheath-
1883 E. Ray Lankester in Encycl. Brit. XVI. 639 In very few instances..the primitive shell-sac is retained and enlarged as the permanent shell-forming area.
shell-sickness n. a disease in sheep characterized by shell-like thickenings in the intestines.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of sheep > [noun] > other disorders of sheep
pocka1325
soughta1400
pox1530
mad1573
winter rot1577
snuffa1585
leaf1587
leaf-sickness1614
redwater1614
mentigo1706
tag1736
white water1743
hog pox1749
rickets1755
side-ill1776
resp1789
sheep-fag1789
thorter-ill1791
vanquish1792
smallpox1793
shell-sicknessc1794
sickness1794
grass-ill1795
rub1800
pine1804
pining1804
sheep-pock1804
stinking ill1807
water sickness1807
core1818
wryneck1819
tag-belt1826
tag-sore1828
kibe1830
agalaxia1894
agalactia1897
lupinosis1899
trembling1902
struck1903
black disease1906
scrapie1910
renguerra1917
pulpy kidney1927
dopiness1932
blowfly strike1933
body strike1934
sleepy sickness1937
swayback1938
twin lamb disease1945
tick pyaemia1946
fly-strike1950
maedi1952
nematodiriasis1957
visna1957
maedi-visna1972
visna-maedi1972
c1794 in Shirreff Agric. Shetl. Isl. (1814) App. 47 The water, or shell sickness, is a disease peculiar to those sheep who feed on the hilly pastures at a distance from the sea shores.
† shell-silver n. Obsolete silver for painting, etc. in the same form as shell-gold.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > writing materials > materials for illumination > [noun]
limning gold1420
shell-gold1573
shell-silver1573
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > equipment for painting or drawing > [noun] > silver or gold for painting
shell-gold1573
shell-silver1573
gold shell?1675
1573 [see shell-gold n.].
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Silver Shell-Silver, is made of the Shreads of Silver Leaves, or of the Leaves themselves: Used in Painting and Silvering certain Works.
shell steak n. a steak cut from the short loin.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > beef > [noun] > steak or fillet
beef-steak1711
entrecôte1840
filet de bœuf1841
porterhouse steak1842
porterhouse1854
bifteck1861
fillet steak1877
tournedos1877
pope's eye1885
filet mignon1906
minute steak1910
T-bone1916
churrasco1917
Swiss steak1932
strip steak1962
shell steak1968
hanger steak1988
1968 Funk & Wagnalls Cook's & Diner's Dict. 213/2 Shell steak, another name for club steak.
1969 R. Lockridge Murder in False Face v. 67 You can watch a tall stranger cutting fat from a shell steak.
1973 Listener 19 Apr. 501/1 A landscape of luscious rib roasts, lamb chops, shell steaks, T-bone steaks, sirloin steaks, fillet mignon,..and so on.
shell-stick n. a stick with a shell on the end used as a weapon by some Australian Aboriginal people.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > club or stick > [noun] > armed club
masuelc1312
macec1325
maulc1325
mell1333
brogged staff1429
balk-staffc1460
malleta1500
quarterstaff?1560
sport staff1634
morgenstern1637
roundhead1643
morning star1684
patu patu1769
patuc1771
shell-stick1790
holy water sprinkler1816
mace-head1824
shark's teeth sword1845
taiaha1845
1790 J. White Jrnl. Voy. New S. Wales 194 A convict..met a party of the natives..by whom he was beaten, and also slightly wounded with the shell-stick used in throwing their spears.
shell-stitch n. one of various knitting or sewing stitches producing shell-like patterns.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > sewn or ornamented textile fabric > [noun] > embroidery or ornamental sewing > stitch > other
chain-stitch1598
French knot1623
picot1623
petty-point1632
tent-stitch1639
brede-stitch1640
herringbone stitch1659
satin stitch1664
feather-stitch1835
Gobelin stitch1838
crowfoot1839
seedingc1840
German stitch1842
petit point1842
long stitch1849
looped stitch1851
hem-stitch1853
loop-stitch1853
faggot stitch1854
spider-wheel1868
dot stitch1869
picot stitch1869
slip-stitch1872
coral-stitch1873
stem stitch1873
rope stitch1875
Vienna cross stitch1876
witch stitch1876
pin stitch1878
seed stitch1879
cushion-stitch1880
Japanese stitch1880
darning-stitch1881
Kensington stitch1881
knot-stitch1881
bullion knot1882
cable pattern1882
Italian stitch1882
lattice-stitch1882
queen stitch1882
rice stitch1882
shadow-stitch1882
ship-ladder1882
spider-stitch1882
stem1882
Vandyke stitch1882
warp-stitch1882
wheel-stitch1882
basket-stitch1883
outline stitch1885
pointing1888
bullion stitchc1890
cable-stitchc1890
oriental stitchc1890
Turkish stitchc1890
Romanian stitch1894
shell-stitch1895
saddle stitch1899
magic stitch1900
plumage-stitch1900
saddle stitching1902
German knot stitch1903
trellis1912
padding stitch1913
straight stitch1918
Hungarian stitch1921
trellis stitch1921
lazy daisy1923
diamond stitchc1926
darning1930
faggot filling stitch1934
fly stitch1934
magic chain stitch1934
glove stitch1964
pad stitch1964
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric manufactured in specific way > [noun] > consisting of loops or looped stitches > knitted fabric > stitches > other
stocking-stitch1805
cable pattern1882
cable-stitchc1890
shell-stitch1895
trellis stitch1921
pelerine stitch1924
cable1943
faggoting1974
1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 291/1 Fascinators, hand made, shell stitch, made of Shetland floss.
1976 Woman's Day (N.Y.) Nov. 128/1 Crocheted rainbow afghan in shell~stitch pattern fairly glows with its twelve different colors.
shell structure n. Physics the structure of the atom envisaged as consisting of a number of electron shells (sense 19b above).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > quantum theory > electron shell > [noun]
shell structure1955
the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > [noun] > atomic structure > types of
Rutherford atom1913
Bohr atom1923
shell structure1955
Rydberg atom1971
1955 F. L. Friedman & V. F. Weisskopf in W. Pauli Niels Bohr & Devel. Physics 146 Some years ago when the evidence for the shell structure was accumulating and some of the inadequacies of the compound nucleus picture were becoming more apparent.
1974 G. Reece tr. F. Hund Hist. Quantum Theory vii. 92 During this period new facts were discovered which made it possible to understand..the shell structure.
† shell-tooth n. Obsolete any of the teeth of a horse which bear the mark; also adj. = shell-toothed adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > body or parts of horse > [noun] > mouth or type of > teeth > that indicate age
gnomons1607
shell-tooth1706
smooth mouth1940
1706 London Gaz. No. 4249/4 A very strong well-limb'd Punch,..6 years old, and Shell-Tooth.
a1832 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) XVIII. 599/2 As in the centre they [sc. corner teeth of a horse] are hollowed like a shell, and contain a kind of fleshy substance, called the mark, they are sometimes called shell teeth.
† shell-toothed adj. Obsolete (see quots.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > body or parts of horse > [adjective] > having particular type of mouth > with particular type of teeth
shell-toothed1717
long in the tooth1834
1717 Dict. Rusticum (ed. 2) at Horse's-age A Horse is said to be Shell-toothed, when he has long Teeth, and yet black specks in them.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Shell-toothed,..an appellation given to a horse that from five years old to old age naturally, and without any artifice, bears mark in all his fore teeth, and there still keeps that hollow place with the black mark.
shell transformer n. = shell-type transformer n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electrical engineering > transformer > [noun] > enclosed within core
shell transformer1888
shell-type transformer1922
1888 G. Kapp in Jrnl. Soc. Telegraph-engineers & Electricians 17 96 We may divide transformers broadly into two classes—one in which the copper coils are spread over the surface of the iron core, enveloping the latter more or less completely; and the other in which the core is spread over the surface of the copper coils, forming a shell over the winding. I propose to call the former ‘core transformers’, and the latter ‘shell transformers’.
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXIII. 418/1 Shell transformers have the disadvantage generally of poor ventilation for the copper circuits.
shell-type n. and adj. (applied to) something having or resembling a shell in any sense.
ΚΠ
1888 G. Kapp in Jrnl. Soc. Telegraph-engineers & Electricians 17 113 These figures show that even in stout rings..the core type [of transformer] is better than the shell type.
1935 Discovery Nov. 333/2 The early pottery lamps of the Ægean, Phœnicia, etc. (known to the British Museum as the ‘cocked-hat’ type, though ‘shell-type’ seems much more expressive, both as to shape and origin).
1964 W. L. Goodman Hist. Woodworking Tools 179 In 1864 the first shell-type chuck with adjustable jaws was patented by Barber.
shell-type transformer n. a transformer having its windings wholly or largely enclosed within the metal ‘core’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electrical engineering > transformer > [noun] > enclosed within core
shell transformer1888
shell-type transformer1922
1922 R. Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics II. 911/2 The three-phase shell-type transformer is a development of the single phase, having three individual sets of coils and the three cores arranged to form one composite core.
1947 R. Lee Electronic Transformers & Circuits ix. 239 Lower capacitance obtains with two coils than with a shell-type transformer of the same interleaving.
C8. In names of animals and plants:
shell-bark n. short for shell-bark hickory (occasionally shell-bark walnut), a North American tree, Carya (formerly Juglans) ovata, having a rough shaggy bark consisting of long narrow plates loosely adhering by the middle; also C. laciniosa (Thick Shell-bark); also, the nut produced by one of these trees.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > North American trees or shrubs > [noun] > hickory
pohickory1644
pignut1666
hickory1670
hickory tree1682
shagbark1751
shell-bark1769
scaly-bark1775
swamp hickory1806
hognut hickory1810
kiskitomasa1817
water hickory1818
nutmeg hickory1832
king-nut1880
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular timber trees or shrubs > non-British timber trees > [noun] > North American > hickory
pohickory1644
hickory1670
shagbark1751
shell-bark1769
scaly-bark1775
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > edible nuts or nut-trees > [noun] > pecan or hickory > pecan or hickory tree > types of
shagbark1751
shell-bark1769
scaly-bark1775
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > North American trees or shrubs > [noun] > hickory > nut
pignut1666
shagbark1860
shell-bark1885
hog-nut1916
1769 R. Smith Jrnl. 11 May in F. W. Halsey Tour of Four Great Rivers (1906) 21 The Timber in these Parts..consists of..red Oak Hazel Bushes, Ash and Gum together with Butternut and Shellbark, Hiccory in plenty.
1785 G. Washington Jrnl. 15 Apr. (1925) II. 362 I planted..a row of the Shell bark hickory Nutt from New York.
1809 A. Wilson Foresters in Port Folio Nov. 273 In deep glens, we groves of shellbarks found.
1814 F. Pursh Flora Amer. Septentrionalis II. 637 Juglans sulcata..is called Thick Shell-bark Hickory, Springfield or Glocester Nut.
1814 F. Pursh Flora Amer. Septentrionalis II. 637 Juglans alba..is known by the name of Shell-bark Hickory, Shag-bark and Scaly-bark Hickory.
1822 S. Clarke Hortus Anglicus II. 489 Shell-bark Walnut Tree.
1884 C. S. Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 133 Carya sulcata,..Big Shell-bark. Bottom Shell-bark.
1885 Harper's Mag. Dec. 78/2 The chipmunk..[has] his hoard of hazel-nuts and shell-barks.
1948 N.W. Ohio Q. Winter 13 Two or three did not get in until dark bearing the big loads of fine shellbarks.
1969 T. H. Everett Living Trees of World xii. 98/2 The big shellbark hickory..chiefly inhabits rich, deep, fairly moist soils.
shell-binder n. Terebella conchilega, the tube of which is composed of sand and fragments of shells.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Annelida > [noun] > class Chaetopoda > order Polychaeta > suborder Sabelliformia > genus Terebella > member of
sand-masona1851
shell-binder1863
1863 J. G. Wood Illustr. Nat. Hist. (new ed.) III. 701 The Shell-binder is very plentiful on some of our coasts.
shell-cracker n. U.S. the red-ear sunfish, Lepomis megalotis.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > family Centrarchidae (sun-fish) > [noun] > member of genus Lepomis (sun-fish)
bream1634
roach1637
sunfish1685
round robin1709
yellowbelly1775
redbelly1791
brim1795
sun perch1804
pumpkin seed1815
sunny1835
bluegill1877
redbreast1877
tobacco-box1877
red-eared sunfish1889
shell-cracker1889
sun1896
redear1931
1889 Cent. Dict. , *Shell-cracker
1947 B. W. Dalrymple Panfish 180 The name ‘Shellcracker’ comes from his habit of feeding on small crustaceans.
1975 Southern Living Aug. 18/3 Fishing is good for bass, crappie, bream, bluegill and shellcracker.
shell-eater n. an African bird, Anastomus lamelligerus (cf. openbill n.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Ciconiiformes (storks, etc.) > [noun] > family Ciconiidae (stork) > genus Anastomus (open-bill)
openbill1837
open-beak1838
shell-eater1869
gaper1871
shell-ibis1894
snail-eater1894
clapper-bill1906
1869–73 T. R. Jones tr. A. E. Brehm Cassell's Bk. Birds IV. 75 The African Clapper-bill, or Shell-eater.
shell-flower n. Molucella lævis, the genus Chelone, and some species of Alpinia.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > names applied to various flowers
heliotropec1000
flower jaunette1423
helichrysum1551
sunflower1562
Armeria1578
hyacinth1578
pimpernel1578
vaccin1589
heliochryse1593
purple1604
sunflower1622
mayflower1626
starflower1629
bluebottle1648
pink1731
trumpet-flower1732
fly-wort1753
witches' thimbles1820
honey plant1824
black-eyed Susan1836
shell-flower1845
pincushion1847
pincushion flower1856
nightingale1862
garland-flower1866
paper-white1880
1845–50 A. H. Lincoln Familiar Lect. Bot. (new ed.) App. 129 Molucella lævis, shell-flower.
1856 A. Gray Man. Bot. Northern U.S. (1860) 285 Chelone glabra,..called..Shell-flower, Balmony.
1884 W. Miller Dict. Eng. Names Plants 124/2 Shell-flower... Brush. Alpinia (Hellenia) cærulea. Indian. Alpinia nutans.
shell-fly n. a kind of fly; an angler's artificial fly (see quots.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > means of attracting fish > [noun] > artificial fly > types of
moor flylOE
drake-flya1450
dub-flya1450
dun cut1496
dun fly1496
louper1496
red fly1616
moorish fly1635
palmer1653
palmer fly1653
red hackle1653
red palmer1653
shell-fly1653
orange fly1662
blackfly1669
dun1676
dun hackle1676
hackle1676
mayfly1676
peacock fly1676
thorn-tree fly1676
turkey-fly1676
violet-fly1676
whirling dun1676
badger fly1681
greenfly1686
moorish brown1689
prime dun1696
sandfly1700
grey midge1724
whirling blue1747
dun drake?1758
death drake1766
hackle fly1786
badger1787
blue1787
brown-fly1787
camel-brown1787
spinner1787
midge1799
night-fly1799
thorn-fly1799
turkey1799
withy-fly1799
grayling fly1811
sun fly1820
cock-a-bondy1835
brown moth1837
bunting-lark fly1837
governor1837
water-hen hackle1837
Waterloo fly1837
coachman1839
soldier palmer1839
blue jay1843
red tag1850
canary1855
white-tip1856
spider1857
bumble1859
doctor1860
ibis1863
Jock Scott1866
eagle1867
highlander1867
jay1867
John Scott1867
judge1867
parson1867
priest1867
snow-fly1867
Jack Scott1874
Alexandra1875
silver doctor1875
Alexandra fly1882
grackle1894
grizzly queen1894
heckle-fly1897
Zulu1898
thunder and lightning1910
streamer1919
Devon1924
peacock1950
1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler v. 97 There are as many sorts of Flies as there be of Fruits:..as the dun flie,..the shel flie, the cloudy or blackish flie. View more context for this quotation
1655 I. Walton Compl. Angler (1661) v. 107 The shell-fly, good in mid July, the body made of greenish wool, lapt about with the herle of a Peacocks tail; and the wings made of the wings of the Buzzard.
1736 Compl. Family-piece ii. ii. 258 The Shell Fly, termed also the Green Fly.
1829 S. Glover Hist. County of Derby I. 177 The following list, which are well known to the expert angler: viz. barm fly,..sand fly, shell fly.
shell-grinder n.
ΚΠ
1886 Encycl. Brit. XX. 174/1 [article Queensland] The shell-grinder, Cestracion, is similar to a shark found as fossil in Europe.
shell-ibis n. (see quots.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Ciconiiformes (storks, etc.) > [noun] > family Ciconiidae (stork) > genus Anastomus (open-bill)
openbill1837
open-beak1838
shell-eater1869
gaper1871
shell-ibis1894
snail-eater1894
clapper-bill1906
1894 A. Newton et al. Dict. Birds: Pt. III 655 (note) Others [sc. names given to birds of the genus Anastomus]..are Shell-eater, Shell Ibis, and Snail-eater.
1899 Cambr. Nat. Hist. IX. iv. 97 Anastomus is called the ‘Shell-Ibis’ from its cleverness in extracting Unio and other molluscs from their shells.
shell-insect n. (a) see quot. 1753; (b) a name for crustaceans of the group Entomostraca.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > [noun] > member of > defined by feeding or parasitism > parasite(s) > which produces excrescence on trees
shell-insect1753
vine gall-insect1753
gall-insect1759
gall-mite1881
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Shell~gall-insect, an insect of the gall-insect class, somewhat resembling those which are called the boat-fashioned ones... It has its name of shell-insect, from the resemblance it bears to a muscle-shell.
shell-lettuce n. (see quot. 1707).
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > leaf vegetables > lettuce > types of
cabbage lettuce?1537
Roman lettuce1577
minion1693
passion-lettuce1704
cos lettuce1706
shell-lettuce1707
lettuce cabbage1731
Silesia1731
rabbit food1772
Tom Thumb1847
romaine1865
oak leaf1892
iceberg lettuce1893
mignonette1923
lollo biondo1987
lollo rosso1987
1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry (1721) II. 148 The Shell Lettice, so called from the roundness of its Leaf, almost like a Shell, is the first that will Cabbage at the going out of the Winter; otherwise called Winter Lettice.
shell parrakeet n. the Australian species Melopsittacus undulatus (Cassell).
shell parrot n. = budgerigar n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Psittaciformes (parrots, etc.) > [noun] > genus Melopsittacus (budgerigar)
lovebird1837
grass parakeet1840
budgerigar1847
shell parrot1890
budgie1936
1890 ‘Lyth’ Golden South xiv. 127 The tiny budgerigar, sometimes called the shell parrot.
1954 Coast to Coast 1953–4 88 The shell-parrots, in glittering, swerving flights, were shrill over the reaches of the river.
† shell-pear n. Obsolete = avocado n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular types of fruit > [noun] > stone fruit > avocado
shell-pear1672
alligator pear1696
avocado1697
vegetable marrow1788
subaltern's butter1816
midshipman's butter1866
Holy Ghost pear1886
1672 W. Hughes Amer. Physitian 41 I never heard it called by any other name than the Spanish Pear, or by some the Shell-Pear.
1691–6 Plukenet Almagestum in Wks. (1769) III. 39 Shell-Pear (i.e.) Pyrus corticosus & testaceus.
† shell-toad n. Obsolete nonce-translation of Dutch schildpad (see shellpad n.).
ΚΠ
1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) II. 2307/2 He was called Shildpad: that is to say, Sheltode: for that he beyng a short grundy and of litle stature, did ryde commonly with a great broad hat.
shell-worm n. †(a) a kind of shellfish; (b) a tubicolous annelid; (c) a mollusc of the family Dentaliidæ.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Mollusca > [noun] > miscellaneous types > other types of mollusc
squame1393
shell-worm1591
spout-fish1594
pentadactyl1601
sea cucumber1601
pirot1611
worm1621
nun-fish1661
scarlet mussel1672
sea-navel1678
redcap?1711
strawberry cockle1713
sea-finger1748
sea-nail1748
sea-acorn1755
coneya1757
compass1776
bubble shell1818
glass-shell1851
golden comb1857
cryptodont1893
nuculoid1960
1591 R. Percyvall Bibliotheca Hispanica Dict. at Escaramugos A kind of shell worm breeding on rockes, and on the sides of ships.

Draft additions 1993

Music. The cylindrical or hemispherical frame of a drum which supports the skin or head.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > percussion instrument > drum > [noun] > frame
shell1879
1879 G. Grove Dict. Music I. 463/2 [A kettledrum] consists of a metallic kettle or shell, more or less hemispherical.
1891 O. Langey Celebr. Tutors: Side Drum, Xylophone 12 The modern drum..should be of moderate depth, about nine inches in the shell.
1928 F. E. Dodge Dodge Drum School 27 The street drum should be made with solid wooden shell.
1964 S. Marcuse Musical Instruments 156/1 The body of tubular and vessel drums is also called shell, which acts as a resonator.
1989 Rhythm Apr. 13/2 The shells are only four plies thick, the same as Ludwig's Super Classic drums.

Draft additions 1993

The more or less rigid (frequently plastic) outer casing of any manufactured object.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > covering > [noun] > a covering > rigid outer casing of a manufactured object
case1542
shell1972
1972 Guardian 31 Oct. 11/4 Ski boots are now injection-moulded plastic shells lined with foam padding.
1983 Your Computer Sept. 21/2 The only problem with the..port is that the case cut-out around it is not big enough for most DB-25 plug shells. I got around that temporarily by removing the connector shell.
1988 Arena Autumn–Winter 105 (advt.) TDK's new chrome position tapes... With new wrapping, new shells, improved construction.

Draft additions February 2005

Computing.
a. A program, esp. one with the ability to make logical inferences, which requires the addition of data relevant to a particular application in order to operate. More fully expert-system shell.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > software > [noun] > applications program > expert system
decision support system1966
shell1969
expert system1977
decision engine1982
1969 C. S. Carr Request for Comments (Network Working Group) (Electronic text) No. 15. 1 A sub-system called ‘Telnet’ is proposed which is a shell program around the network system primitives, allowing a teletype or similar terminal at a remote host to function as a teletype at the serving host.
1984 P. Jones in R. Forsyth Expert Syst. ix. 134 The expert system shells..operate at the system rather than the programming level. They contain, essentially invisibly to the user, the data structures and control strategy needed to implement an application.
1987 T. Forester High-tech Society ii. 47 Expert system ‘shells’ or ‘tool kits’—skeleton programs on which customers can hang their own experts' knowledge—such as the Xi system from Expertech.., have achieved substantial sales.
2002 Professional Safety (Nexis) Oct. 32 An expert system must reside in a shell that provides an environment for rules to be entered and executed.
b. In some operating systems (originally Multics and Unix): a program that translates commands keyed by the user into commands that the operating system can act on, thereby providing a high-level interface with the user. Also (more fully shell window): a window in which such commands can be invoked.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > software > [noun] > system or utility programmes > other
rollback1954
loader1959
package1964
scheduler1966
post-processor1967
shell1974
disc emulator1977
profiler1977
spooler1979
updater1980
sniffer1986
vaccine1986
antivirus1988
1974 Communications ACM 17 371/1 For most users, communication with unix is carried on with the aid of a program called the Shell. The Shell is a command line interpreter.
1982 Pandora's Box in fa.info-vax (Usenet newsgroup) 16 Jan. The most important [feature] is the ability to..type commands directly to a OS command language interpreter (i.e., shell) and have them executed. This includes the ability to lift input and output out of the ‘shell window’ and stick it into some other editing buffer.
1986 Personal Computer World Nov. 57/1 (advt.) Full source code to the shell and all utilities, written in ‘C’, is included with this incredible package.
1996 U.S. News & World Rep. 5 Feb. 79/1 Now give all members of the family..a desktop management ‘shell’, a program that sits on top of the Windows or Macintosh operating system.
2002 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 25 May 8 Just go to a shell, type ‘apt-get upgrade’ and, poof, you're upgrading.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

shellv.

Brit. /ʃɛl/, U.S. /ʃɛl/
Etymology: < shell n. Compare Middle Low German schellen to peel; also shale v.1, sheel v.
1.
a. transitive. To remove (a seed) from its shell, husk, or pod. Also with out.Shelling peas is put (colloquially) for a type of a simple easy process.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation for table or cooking > preparing fruit and vegetables > prepare fruit and vegetables [verb (transitive)] > shell or pod
sheelc1440
shell1562
pod1866
1562 W. Turner Herball (1568) ii. 33 Thyrtye granes of Lentilles shelled.
a1668 W. Davenant Play-house to Let (1673) i. i What, Shelling of Beans? 'tis a proper work For the Long Vacation.
1725 P. Blair Pharmaco-botanologia iii. 129 Three Bolls of unshell'd or unhusk'd Oats only yield one Boll of what is shell'd or husk'd.
1796 Mrs. Glasse's Cookery (new ed.) iii. 32 Shell your pease just before you want them.
1803 M. Cutler Let. 21 Jan. in W. P. Cutler & J. P. Cutler Life, Jrnls. & Corr. M. Cutler (1888) II. 125 In bad weather, shell out your corn.
1830 F. Marryat King's Own III. i. 22 I never..shelled a pea in my life.
1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. xxii. 216 Shelling peas into a dish.
1860 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (ed. 3) To Shell corn, to remove the grains of Indian corn from the cob.
1869 A. J. Evans Vashti v. 66 Engaged in shelling some seed-beans.
b. Medicine. To extrude, expel (a growth). Also intransitive, to admit of being extruded.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > surgery > removal by surgical means > remove by surgical means [verb (transitive)]
extirp?1541
ablate1639
extirpate1650
shell1876
1876 Trans. Clin. Soc. 9 41 The capsule of the glands was opened, and most of them were shelled out without much difficulty.
1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. 9 384 An elastic moveable tumour..which was easily shelled after a slight dissection.
1910 Practitioner June 786 Sessile submucous myomata may be enucleated with ease in some cases. All myomata, however, do not readily shell out.
c. (See quots.)
ΚΠ
1823 G. Crabb Universal Technol. Dict. To Shell, (Vet.) is said of a horse that has the teeth completely bare and uncovered, which happens about the fifteenth or sixteenth year.
1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. (at cited word) Animals and children are always said to shell their teeth—that is, to shed or cast the milk teeth.
d. intransitive. Of grain, seed, etc.: To drop out of the shell or husk.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > growth, movement, or curvature of parts > grow, move, or curve [verb (intransitive)] > fall off or drop
shed1557
shatter1577
shale1578
decide1657
shake1725
shell1828
1828–32 N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Shell..3. To be disengaged from the husk; as, wheat or rye shells in reaping.
1846 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 7 i. 71 The oats that shell out on the land at harvest time.
1861–2 Trans. Illinois Agric. Soc. (1865) 5 197 Tea wheat..has the fault of shelling badly if left standing too long before cutting.
2.
a. transitive. To remove the shell, husk, etc. of.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of grain > [verb (transitive)] > remove husk
shalea1398
dehusk1566
unhusk1598
unshell1599
unshale1611
shell1694
hud1790
shuck1819
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > covering > uncovering > uncover or remove covering from [verb (transitive)] > strip or make bare > strip of outer layer > strip of skin, husk, or bark > strip of husk or shell
shalea1398
sheelc1440
shillc1440
dehusk1566
unhusk1598
unshell1599
unshale1611
shell1694
1694 P. A. Motteux in tr. F. Rabelais 5th Bk. Wks. Prol. sig. A3 They shall shell [Fr. esgoussera] the Shrub's delicious Fruit, Whose Flow'r they in the Spring so much had fear'd.
1705 in Agnew Hered. Sheriffs Galloway (1893) II. xi. 207 That they shell their oats sufficientlie for the first time, and winnow the shelling.
1780 A. Young Tour Ireland (Dublin ed.) I. 139 The oats are dried at home..they are then sent to a mill to be shelled.
1804 ‘Ignotus’ Culina 189 Some shrimps shelled.
1808 C. Vancouver Gen. View Agric. Devon i. 72 Coarse millstones for shelling clover.
1865 E. B. Tylor Res. Early Hist. Mankind 193 The women who shell almonds in the south of France.
1894 Cent. Mag. 47 851 I remembered that my Lake George neighbors ‘shell’ out their nuts when they take the ‘shucks’ off them.
b. To bring forth as from a shell. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > birth > confinement > confine or deliver [verb (transitive)] > give birth
forthbring971
akenOE
haveOE
bearOE
to bring into the worldOE
teemOE
i-bereOE
to bring forthc1175
childc1175
reara1275
ofkenc1275
hatcha1350
makea1382
yielda1400
cleck1401
issue1447
engenderc1450
infant1483
deliver?a1518
whelp1581
world1596
yean1598
fall1600
to give (a person or thing) birth1615
to give birth to1633
drop1662
pup1699
born1703
to throw off1742
beteem1855
birth1855
parturiate1866
shell1890
to put to bed1973
bring-
1890 C. Martin Austral. Girl I. xvi. 214 Creatures that are shelled into life in weltering heaps.
3. intransitive. To come away or fall off as a shell, crust, or outer coat; to come off in thin pieces, peel or scale off.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > covering > uncovering > become uncovered [verb (intransitive)] > be lost as an outer layer
slip1669
shell1676
to turn off1737
decorticate1805
exfoliate1807
1676 R. Wiseman Severall Chirurg. Treat. iv. iv. 287 By this very method the rottenness of the Bone soon shell'd off.
1686 tr. J. Chardin Coronation Solyman 38 in Trav. Persia There is nothing..that appears either tarnished or shel'd off [Fr. écaillé] in any part.
1761 Philos. Trans. 1760 (Royal Soc.) 51 636 It did..damage to the column..by causing its surface to shell off.
1883 R. Haldane Workshop Receipts 2nd Ser. 254/2 [Whitewashing] This [mixture] will not shell off.
4.
a. transitive. To enclose in, or as in, a shell; to encase. (See shelled adj.1 1).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > covering > wrapping > wrap [verb (transitive)] > encase or sheathe
casea1525
to case up1566
ensheath1593
encase1633
shell1637
sheathea1640
invaginate1656
jacket1861
1637 N. Whiting Le Hore di Recreatione 9 His body shelled in a Satten skin Of azure dye.
1637 N. Whiting Le Hore di Recreatione 53 Cupid..disdaines to dwell In loftie pallace, but does shell Himselfe in straw~thatcht roofe.
a1657 G. Daniel Trinarchodia: Henry V lxxiv, in Poems (1878) IV. 119 They did returne Vnto the King; who Shells himselfe, to see Wthin himselfe, the Obiect of this Scorne.
1667 Third Advice in Second & Third Advice to Painter 18 Even they (though shell'd in trebble Oak) Will prove an Addle-egg with double Yoalk.
1685 C. Cotton tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. (1869) xix. 68 Shell thee with steel or brass,..Death from the casque will pull thy cautious head.
a1849 T. L. Beddoes Poems (1851) I. 156 Like a dim mist Shelling a god, it rolled.
1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda I. ii. xviii. 360 Their faces seemed full of speech, as if their minds had been shelled, after the manner of horse-chesnuts.
†b. passive (apparently) To be fixed close, as a mollusc to its shell.
ΚΠ
a1657 G. Daniel Trinarchodia: Henry IV ccxxvi, in Poems (1878) IV. 57 A Man soe Shell'd in Blood vnto his Beast.
5.
a. To furnish with shells for collecting spat.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > fish-keeping, farming, or breeding > [verb (transitive)] > culch oyster-bed
shell1885
1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 110 Spawning oysters are frequently put down in the spring, two months before the ground is shelled.
1891 W. K. Brooks Amer. Oyster 108 Of this vast area a large portion has been cleaned up and shelled.
b. To spread oyster-shells on (ground) as a fertilizer; to make up (a road) with shells; intransitive to deal in or use oyster-shells.In U.S. dictionaries.
6. To bombard with shells (also absol.); to drive out of a place by shelling.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > operation and use of weapons > action of propelling missile > discharge of firearms > management of artillery > operate (artillery) [verb (transitive)] > bombard
ding1548
to lay battery to1548
cannon1567
thunder1590
cannonade1637
bombard1686
bomb1694
shell1827
plonk1874
plaster1914
bump1915
labour1915
water1915
barragea1917
paste1942
stonk1944
1856 W. H. Russell War xxiii. 227 The Russians now shell vigorously.
1870 Standard 16 Nov. A battery was planted, and the chateau was about to be shelled.
1895 Times 4 Feb. 5/1 Every gun in the fort had been silenced, and the Japanese were fairly shelled out of it.
in extended use.1897 ‘H. S. Merriman’ In Kedar's Tents xx The other soldier was chasing his opponent up the hill, shelling him, as he rode away, with oaths and stones.figurative.1827 W. Scott Chron. Canongate i My quondam doer had ensconced himself chin-deep among legal trenches..but my two protectors shelled him out of his defences.1851 T. De Quincey Sketch from Childhood in Hogg's Instructor New Ser. 6 149/1 From these..he was speedily driven, or one might say shelled out, by a concerted assault of my sister's.
7. to shell out colloquial (figurative from sense 1).
a. transitive. To disburse, pay up, hand over. Also (rarely) to shell down.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > payment > pay money or things [verb (transitive)] > pay up or out
to pay out1438
to pay over1668
to shell down1801
pony1819
tip1829
to fork out, over, or up1831
to stump up1833
to put up1838
stump1841
pungle1851
to ante up1880
cough1894
to peg out1895
brass1898
1801 M. Edgeworth Forester in Moral Tales I. 191 One of you..must shell out your corianders [see coriander n. 3].
1816 W. Scott Black Dwarf vii, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. I. 141 The gold is shelled down when ye command, as fast as I have seen the ash-keys fall in a frosty morning.
1817 M. Edgeworth Love & Law i. i, in Comic Dramas 10 To shell out for me the price of a deecent horse.
1819 T. Moore Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress (ed. 3) 27 Who knows but, if coax'd, he may shell out the shiners?
1863 J. P. Robson Songs Bards of Tyne 299 Shell oot yor goold, my collier lad.
b. intransitive. To pay up.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > payment > pay [verb (intransitive)] > pay up or out
to shell out1821
dub1823
stump1828
to stump up1836
tip1847
cash1854
to ante up1861
to fund up1888
pony1894
brass1898
cough1920
to pay up1941
to dig down1942
1821 P. Egan Life in London ii. iii. 229 If you are too scaly to tip for it I'll shell out and shame you.
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days i. vi. 127 I've got a tick at Sally's,..but then I hate running it high..towards the end of the half, 'cause one has to shell out for it all directly one comes back.
1889 H. O'Reilly & J. Y. Nelson Fifty Years on Trail 254 I had to ‘shell out’ pretty freely..it cost me 250 dollars.
c. transitive. To let out, declare. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > manifestation > disclosure or revelation > disclose or reveal [verb (transitive)] > secrets
discovera1375
labc1400
bewray1578
blab1582
discabinet1605
eviscerate1607
eliminate1608
to give upa1640
vent1678
betray1734
confide1735
leak1859
to shell out1862
clatfart1913
spill1917
unzip1939
1862 Mrs. H. Wood Channings I. i. 15 Come, Miss Channing, just shell out what you know.

Draft additions 1993

b. Baseball. To score heavily against (an opposing pitcher or team). Frequently in passive. Cf. shellac v. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > fact or action of being joined or joining > be or become joined together [verb (intransitive)] > be or become closely, intimately, or permanently joined
enchainc1400
solder1470
marry1568
knit1617
weld1802
shell1942
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > baseball > play baseball [verb (transitive)] > score heavily against pitcher or team
shell1942
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §677/30 Make many hits,..pump out hits, shell, unleash a barrage. Spec. hammer or pound out a win, to win by scoring many hits.
1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 26 June 1– b/1 Not that Billings starter and loser Bill Dawley or reliever Rick Lear were shelled. Each gave up four hits.
1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 6 July 2– c/7 Each singled twice and drove in three runs to support Gary Ross' five-hit pitching Monday night as the California Angels shelled the Cleveland Indians 8–1.
1987 First Base Summer 21/3 Gooden..was shelled twice by Boston in the World Series, finishing 0–3 in the post-season.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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