shell

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English Vietnamese dictionary

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Advanced English dictionary

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noun, verb
+ noun
1 [C, U] the hard outer part of eggs, nuts, some seeds and some animals: We collected shells on the beach. + snail / mussel / walnut shells + earrings made out of coconut shell
See also - EGGSHELL, NUTSHELL, SEASHELL, TORTOISESHELL
2 [C] any object that looks like the shell of a SNAIL or sea creature: pasta shells
3 [C] a metal case filled with explosive, to be fired from a large gun: A shell burst only yards away from us.
4 (AmE) = CARTRIDGE
5 [C] the walls or outer structure of sth, for example, an empty building or ship after a fire or a bomb attack: The house was now a shell gutted by flames. + (figurative) My life has been an empty shell since he died.
6 [C] any structure that forms a hard outer frame: the body shell of a car
7 [sing.] the outer layer of sb's personality; how they seem to be or feel: She had developed a shell of indifference.
Idioms: come out of your shell to become less shy and more confident when talking to other people: He's really come out of his shell since he met Marie.
to go / retreat etc. into your shell to become shyer and avoid talking to other people: Whenever my friends are here, she just withdraws into her shell.
+ verb
1 to fire shells at sth: [VN] They shelled the city all night. + [V] Just as they were leaving the rebels started shelling.
2 [VN] to remove the shell or covering from nuts, peas, etc: shelled prawns / shrimp
Phrasal Verbs: shell out (for sth)
shell sth<->out (for sth) (informal) to pay a lot of money for sth
Synonym: FORK OUT
The band shelled out $100 000 for a mobile recording studio.

Thesaurus dictionary

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n.

1 cartridge, projectile, shot:

We huddled in the foxhole as the shells whistled overhead.

2 exterior, outside, façade, framework, frame, chassis, externals, skeleton, hull:

After the earthquake, only the shell of the building was left standing.

v.

3 shuck, husk, peel, hull, excorticate, decorticate:

Would you mind shelling the peas while I peel the potatoes?

4 fire on or upon, bombard, barrage, attack, bomb, blitz, cannonade, Slang Brit prang:

The enemy shelled our position relentlessly.

5 shell out. pay out, give out, disburse, spend, expend, hand over, hand out, Colloq lay out, fork out, dish out, Chiefly US ante up:

I had to shell out a month's salary for that suit.

Collocation dictionary

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¹ on eggs/nuts/some animals

ADJ.

broken, empty, hard, outer, protective, thick

(figurative) She had built up a protective shell of indifference around herself.

| egg

(also

eggshell

)

| cockle, conch, cowrie, fossil, mollusc, mussel, oyster, scallop, sea

(also

seashell

),

snail

The garden was littered with empty snail shells.

| coconut, walnut

VERB + SHELL

have

creatures that have shells

| come out of, emerge from

(often figurative) He's really come out of his shell since he met Marie.

| go (back) into, retreat into, withdraw into

The snail went back into its shell.

| remove sth from

Remove the mussels from their shells.

² explosive weapon

ADJ.

heavy | unexploded | anti-aircraft, artillery, cannon, howitzer, mortar

VERB + SHELL

load | fire

SHELL + VERB

fall, land | blow up, burst, crash, explode | hit sth, strike sth

Two shells hit the roof.

| blow sth apart/off, blow sb/sth up

SHELL + NOUN

fire

They braved heavy shell fire to rescue the wounded.

| case/casing, fragments, splinter | crater, hole

³ outer walls of a building

ADJ.

concrete | burnt-out, empty, hollow

The fire reduced the school to a hollow shell.

Concise English dictionary

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shells|shelled|shellingʃel
noun
+ammunition consisting of a cylindrical metal casing containing an explosive charge and a projectile; fired from a large gun
+the material that forms the hard outer covering of many animals
+hard outer covering or case of certain organisms such as arthropods and turtles
+the hard usually fibrous outer layer of some fruits especially nuts
+the exterior covering of a bird's egg
+a rigid covering that envelops an object
+a very light narrow racing boat
+the housing or outer covering of something
+a metal sheathing of uniform thickness (such as the shield attached to an artillery piece to protect the gunners)
+the hard largely calcareous covering of a mollusc
verb
+use explosives on
+fall out of the pod or husk
+hit the pitches of hard and regularly
+look for and collect shells by the seashore
+come out better in a competition, race, or conflict
+remove from its shell or outer covering
+remove the husks from

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