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.
Defn: The husks of cacao seeds, a decoction of which is often used as a substitute for chocolate, cocoa, etc.
9. (Naut.)
Defn: 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. (Zoöl.) (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 (Zoöl.), 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.