the.com/shell
armor a creature builds from its own body, then leaves behind as a souvenir of having lived
means A hard protective outer covering — of a nut, egg, mollusc, or seed — and by extension any rigid casing, hollow frame, or the metal-and-explosive projectile fired from a gun.
from From Old English 'sciell,' meaning a husk or seashell, tied to a Germanic root suggesting something split off or cut away — a cousin of 'scale' and 'shale,' all sharing the sense of a thin, flaking layer. The military 'shell' (a hollow projectile packed with explosive) is a later, vivid borrowing of the same image: a thin hard skin around something within. 'Shell out,' meaning to pay up, likely comes from shelling peas or nuts — removing the husk to get at the goods inside.
- the math
- Nautilus shells spiral in near-perfect logarithmic curves
- borrowed homes
- Hermit crabs rent shells and line up to swap
- sound myth
- That ocean roar is just your own blood
- war origin
- Artillery shells named for their hard hollow casing
- command line
- Your computer's shell wraps the kernel like one
shell oil company — multinational energy corporation founded 1907, headquartered in the hague
shell scientific awards — annual prizes given since 1976 by the shell foundation for research
shell grotto margate — underground chamber in kent, england decorated with 4.6 million shells, created 1835