Any slight hollow structure; a framework, or exterior
structure, regarded as not complete or filled in; as, the shell of a
house.

A coarse kind of coffin; also, a thin interior coffin
inclosed in a more substantial one.

The hard calcareous or chitinous external covering of
mollusks, crustaceans, and some other invertebrates. In some mollusks,
as the cuttlefishes, it is internal, or concealed by the mantle. Also,
the hard covering of some vertebrates, as the armadillo, the tortoise,
and the like.

The case which holds the powder, or charge of powder and
shot, used with breechloading small arms.

Hence, by extension, any mollusks having such a covering.

The hard covering of an egg.

The covering, or outside part, of a nut; as, a hazelnut
shell.

A hard outside covering, as of a fruit or an animal.

A pod.

A hollow projectile, of various shapes, adapted for a mortar
or a cannon, and containing an explosive substance, ignited with a fuse
or by percussion, by means of which the projectile is burst and its
fragments scattered. See Bomb.