- [countable, uncountable] the hard outer part of eggs, nuts, some seeds, and some animals
- We collected shells on the beach.
- snail/oyster/clam shells
- walnut shells
- earrings made out of coconut shell
- the shell of a turtle
Extra ExamplesTopics Fish and shellfishb1, Animalsb1- Male crabs shed their shells twice a year.
- Remove the mussels from their shells.
- The snail went back into its shell.
- There was a hard outer shell and a tough inner shell.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- empty
- hard
- outer
- …
- have
- come out of
- emerge from
- …
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- [countable] any object that looks like the shell of a snail or sea creature
- pasta shells
- [countable] a metal case filled with explosive, to be fired from a large gun
- mortar/artillery shells
- A shell burst only yards away from us.
- Several empty shell casings were found in the area.
Extra ExamplesTopics War and conflictc2- Two shells hit the roof.
- They braved heavy shell fire to rescue the wounded.
- The telltale sound of an incoming shell was heard.
- a heap of spent brass shells from a machine gun
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- unexploded
- spent
- anti-aircraft
- …
- load
- fire
- fly
- fall
- land
- …
- fire
- shock
- case
- …
- (North American English) (also cartridge British and North American English)[countable] a tube or case containing explosive and a bullet or shot, for shooting from a gun
- [countable] the walls or outer structure of something, 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.
- The fire reduced the school to a hollow shell.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- concrete
- burned-out
- empty
- …
- [countable] any structure that forms a hard outer frame
- the body shell of a car
- [singular] the outer layer of somebody’s personality; how they seem to be or feel
- She had developed a shell of indifference.
- She had built up a protective shell around herself.
Word OriginOld English scell (noun), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch schel ‘scale, shell’, also to scale ‘thin plates that cover the skin of many fish and reptiles’. The verb dates from the mid 16th cent. in sense (2).
Idioms
See shell in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee shell in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishcome 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.
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shell