shell

Definitions

• A hard external covering of an animal.
• The hard calcareous covering of a bird egg.
• One of the outer layers of skin of an onion.
• (botany) The hard external covering of various plant seed forms.
• (geology) The accreted mineral formed around a hollow geode.
• (weaponry) The casing of a self-contained single-unit artillery projectile.
• (weaponry) A hollow, usually spherical or cylindrical projectile fired from a siege mortar or a smoothbore cannon. It contains an explosive substance designed to be ignited by a fuse or by percussion at the target site so that it will burst and scattered at high velocity its contents and fragments. Formerly called a bomb.
• (weaponry) The cartridge of a breechloading firearm; a load; a bullet; a round.
• (architecture) Any slight hollow structure; a framework, or exterior structure, regarded as not complete or filled in, as the shell of a house.
• A garment, usually worn by women, such as a shirt, blouse, or top, with short sleeves or no sleeves, that often fastens in the rear.
• A coarse or flimsy coffin; a thin interior coffin enclosed within a more substantial one.
• (music) A string instrument, as a lyre, whose acoustical chamber is formed like a shell.
• (music) The body of a drum; the often wooden, often cylindrical acoustic chamber, with or without rims added for tuning and for attaching the drum head.
• An engraved copper roller used in print works.
• The thin coating of copper on an electrotype.
• (nautical) The watertight outer covering of the hull of a vessel, often made with planking or metal plating.
• (nautical) The outer frame or case of a block within which the sheaves revolve.
• (nautical) A light boat whose frame is covered with thin wood, impermeable fabric, or water-proofed paper; a racing shell or dragon boat.
• (chemistry) A set of atomic orbitals that have the same principal quantum number.
• (figuratively) The outward form independent of what is inside.
• (figuratively) The empty outward form of someone or something.
• An emaciated person.
• A psychological barrier to social interaction.
• (computing) An operating system software user interface, whose primary purpose is to launch other programs and control their interactions; the user's command interpreter. Shell is a way to separate the internal complexity of the implementation of the command from the user. The internals can change while the user experience/interface remains the same.
• (business) A legal entity that has no operations.
• A concave rough cast-iron tool in which a convex lens is ground to shape.
• (engineering) A gouge bit or shell bit.
• (phonology) The onset and coda of a syllable.
• (UK) A person's ear.