shell

noun

1. The calcareous or chitinous external covering of mollusks, crustaceans, and some other invertebrates.
2. Any mollusk having such a covering.
3. The exoskeleton or wing covers of certain insects.
4. The conjoined scutes that constitute the "shell" (carapace) of a tortoise or turtle.
5. The overlapping hard plates comprising the armor covering the armadillo's body.
6. The hard calcareous covering of a bird egg.
7. One of the outer layers of skin of an onion.
8. The covering, or outside part, of a nut.
9. A pod containing the seeds of certain plants, such as the legume Phaseolus vulgaris.
10. Husks of cacao seeds, a decoction of which is sometimes used as a substitute or adulterant for cocoa and its products such as chocolate.
11. The accreted mineral formed around a hollow geode.
12. The casing of a self-contained single-unit artillery projectile.
13. 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 scatter at high velocity its contents and fragments. Formerly called a bomb.
14. The cartridge of a breechloading firearm; a load; a bullet; a round.
15. Any slight hollow structure; a framework, or exterior structure, regarded as not complete or filled in, as the shell of a house.
16. 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.
17. A coarse or flimsy coffin; a thin interior coffin enclosed within a more substantial one.
18. An unmarked vehicle for carrying corpses from a crime scene.
19. A string instrument, as a lyre, whose acoustical chamber is formed like a shell.
20. 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.