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shell |
9 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Shell \Shell\, n. [OE. shelle, schelle, AS scell, scyll; akin to D. shel, Icel. skel, Goth. skalja a tile, and E. skill. Cf {Scale} of fishes, {Shale}, {Skill}.] 1. A hard outside covering, as of a fruit or an animal. Specifically: a The covering, or outside part of a nut; as a hazelnut shell. b A pod. c The hard covering of an egg. Think him as a serpent's egg, . . . And kill him in the shell. --Shak. d (Zo["o]l.) The hard calcareous or chitinous external covering of mollusks, crustaceans, and some other invertebrates. In some mollusks, as the cuttlefishes, it is internal, or concealed by the mantle. Also the hard covering of some vertebrates, as the armadillo, the tortoise, and the like e (Zo["o]l.) Hence by extension, any mollusks having such a covering. 2. (Mil.) A hollow projectile, of various shapes, adapted for a mortar or a cannon, and containing an explosive substance, ignited with a fuse or by percussion, by means of which the projectile is burst and its fragments scattered. See {Bomb}. 3. The case which holds the powder, or charge of powder and shot, used with breechloading small arms. 4. Any slight hollow structure; a framework, or exterior structure, regarded as not complete or filled in as the shell of a house. 5. A coarse kind of coffin; also a thin interior coffin inclosed in a more substantial one --Knight. 6. An instrument of music, as a lyre, -- the first lyre having been made it is said by drawing strings over a tortoise shell. When Jubal struck the chorded shell. --Dryden. 7. An engraved copper roller used in print works 8. pl The husks of cacao seeds, a decoction of which is often used as a substitute for chocolate, cocoa, etc 9. (Naut.) The outer frame or case of a block within which the sheaves revolve. 10. A light boat the frame of which is covered with thin wood or with paper; as a racing shell. {Message shell}, a bombshell inside of which papers may be put in order to convey messages. {Shell bit}, a tool shaped like a gouge, used with a brace in boring wood. See {Bit}, n., 3. {Shell button}. a A button made of shell. b A hollow button made of two pieces, as of metal, one for the front and the other for the back -- often covered with cloth, silk, etc {Shell cameo}, a cameo cut in shell instead of stone. {Shell flower}. (Bot.) Same as {Turtlehead}. {Shell gland}. (Zo["o]l.) a A glandular organ in which the rudimentary shell is formed in embryonic mollusks. b A glandular organ which secretes the eggshells of various worms, crustacea, mollusks, etc {Shell gun}, a cannon suitable for throwing shells. {Shell ibis} (Zo["o]l.), the openbill of India. {Shell jacket}, an undress military jacket. {Shell lime}, lime made by burning the shells of shellfish. {Shell marl} (Min.), a kind of marl characterized by an abundance of shells, or fragments of shells. {Shell meat}, food consisting of shellfish, or testaceous mollusks. --Fuller. {Shell mound}. See under {Mound}. {Shell of a boiler}, the exterior of a steam boiler, forming a case to contain the water and steam, often inclosing also flues and the furnace; the barrel of a cylindrical, or locomotive, boiler. {Shell road}, a road of which the surface or bed is made of shells, as oyster shells. {Shell sand}, minute fragments of shells constituting a considerable part of the seabeach in some places. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Shell \Shell\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Shelled}; p. pr & vb n. {Shelling}.] 1. To strip or break off the shell of to take out of the shell, pod, etc.; as to shell nuts or pease; to shell oysters. 2. To separate the kernels of (an ear of Indian corn, wheat, oats, etc.) from the cob, ear, or husk. 3. To throw shells or bombs upon or into to bombard; as to shell a town. {To shell out}, to distribute freely; to bring out or pay as money. [Colloq.] From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Shell \Shell\, v. i. 1. To fall off as a shell, crust, etc 2. To cast the shell, or exterior covering; to fall out of the pod or husk; as nuts shell in falling. 3. To be disengaged from the ear or husk; as wheat or rye shells in reaping. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Shell \Shell\, n. 1. Something similar in form or action to an ordnance shell; specif.: a (Fireworks) A case or cartridge containing a charge of explosive material, which bursts after having been thrown high into the air. It is often elevated through the agency of a larger firework in which it is contained. b (Oil Wells) A torpedo. 2. A concave rough cast-iron tool in which a convex lens is ground to shape. 3. A gouge bit or shell bit. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: shell adj : having a shell or or containing shell; "shell marl" n 1: cylindrical metal casing containing an explosive charge and a projectile; fired from a large gun 2: the material that forms the hard outer covering of many animals 3: hard outer covering or case of certain organisms such as arthropods and turtles [syn: {carapace}] 4: the hard usually fibrous outer layer of some fruits especially nuts 5: a rigid covering that envelops an object; "the satellite is covered with a smooth shell of ice" 6: the exterior covering of a bird's egg [syn: {eggshell}] 7: a very light narrow racing boat [syn: {racing shell}] 8: the outer covering or housing of something "the clock has a walnut case" [syn: {case}, {casing}] 9: a metal sheathing of uniform thickness (such as the shield attached to an artillery piece to protect the gunners) [syn: {plate}, {scale}] 10: the hard largely calcareous covering of a mollusc v 1: use explosives on "The enemy has been shelling us all day" [syn: {blast}, {strafe}] 2: take something out of its shell or pod, such as peas or beans [syn: {pod}] From U.S. Gazetteer (1990) [gazetteer]: Shell, WY Zip code(s): 82441 From Jargon File (4.2.3, 23 NOV 2000) [jargon]: shell [orig. {{Multics}} n. techspeak widely propagated via Unix] 1. [techspeak] The command interpreter used to pass commands to an operating system; so called because it is the part of the operating system that interfaces with the outside world. 2. More generally, any interface program that mediates access to a special resource or {server} for convenience, efficiency, or security reasons; for this meaning, the usage is usually `a shell around' whatever. This sort of program is also called a `wrapper'. 3. A skeleton program, created by hand or by another program (like, say a parser generator), which provides the necessary {incantation}s to set up some task and the control flow to drive it (the term {driver} is sometimes used synonymously). The user is meant to fill in whatever code is needed to get real work done This usage is common in the AI and Microsoft Windows worlds, and confuses Unix hackers. Historical note: Apparently, the original Multics shell (sense 1) was so called because it was a shell (sense 3); it ran user programs not by starting up separate processes, but by dynamically linking the programs into its own code, calling them as subroutines, and then dynamically de-linking them on return. The VMS command interpreter still does something very like this From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]: SHELLAn early system on the {Datatron 200} series. [Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959)]. [{Jargon File}] (1995-05-11) From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]: shell 1. (Originally from {Multics}, widely propagated via {Unix}) The {command interpreter} used to pass commands to an {operating system}; so called because it is the part of the operating system that interfaces with the outside world. The commonest Unix shells are the c shell ({csh}) and the Bourne shell ({sh}). 2. (Or "wrapper") Any interface program that mediates access to a special resource or {server} for convenience, efficiency, or security reasons; for this meaning, the usage is usually "a shell around" whatever. [{Jargon File}] (1995-05-11)
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