Definition of: shell

(shel) noun
1. A hard structure incasing an animal, as a mollusk, or an egg or fruit.
2. A mollusk; shellfish: much used in composition.
3. A hollow structure or vessel, generally thin and weak; also, a framework with its interior removed or destroyed, or one to be filled out or built upon.
4. A very light, long, and narrow racing rowboat.
5. A hollow metallic projectile filled with an explosive or chemical; especially, an artillery projectile filled with high explosive: used against materiel and fortifications and distinguished from shrapnel used against personnel.
6. The plates, etc., constituting the framework of a steam boiler or the like.
7. A metallic or paper cartridge case for breechloading small arms (see illustration under CARTRIDGE); also, any paper case used to contain the explosives of fireworks, such as torpedos.
8. Physics One of the orbits in which the electrons of an atom revolve.
9. A shape or outline that merely simulates a reality; hollow form; external semblance.
10. The external ear; auricle.
11. The lyre: originally a stringed tortoise shell.
12. A reserved or impersonal attitude: to come out of one's shell.
—v.t.
1. To divest of or remove from a shell; strip from the husk, pod, or shell.
2. To separate from the cob, as Indian corn.
3. To bombard with shells, as a fort.
4. To cover with shells.
—v.i.
5. To shed or become freed from the shell or pod.
6. To fall off, as a shell or scale.
—to shell out Colloq. To hand over, as money. [OE scell shell]
—shell′er noun
—shell′–less adjective
—shell′y adjective