shell

shell is a 5-letter English word with 39 senses as noun, transitive verb, intransitive verb, and verb in the JumbleFix dictionary. One common meaning is: A hard outside covering, as of a fruit or an animal. Face value is 8 in Scrabble and 9 in Words With Friends. Use the entries below when you need a playable sense, a nearby word, or another arrangement of the same letters.

5 letters · Scrabble 8 · Words With Friends 9 · 39 senses

Definitions

1. noun. A hard outside covering, as of a fruit or an animal.
2. noun. The covering, or outside part, of a nut; as, a hazelnut shell.
3. noun. A pod.
4. noun. The hard covering of an egg.
5. noun. 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.
6. noun. Hence, by extension, any mollusks having such a covering.
7. noun. 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.
8. noun. The case which holds the powder, or charge of powder and shot, used with breechloading small arms.
9. noun. Any slight hollow structure; a framework, or exterior structure, regarded as not complete or filled in; as, the shell of a house.
10. noun. A coarse kind of coffin; also, a thin interior coffin inclosed in a more substantial one.
11. noun. An instrument of music, as a lyre, -- the first lyre having been made, it is said, by drawing strings over a tortoise shell.
12. noun. An engraved copper roller used in print works.
13. noun. The husks of cacao seeds, a decoction of which is often used as a substitute for chocolate, cocoa, etc.
14. noun. The outer frame or case of a block within which the sheaves revolve.
15. noun. A light boat the frame of which is covered with thin wood or with paper; as, a racing shell.
16. transitive verb. To strip or break off the shell of; to take out of the shell, pod, etc.; as, to shell nuts or pease; to shell oysters.
17. transitive verb. To separate the kernels of (an ear of Indian corn, wheat, oats, etc.) from the cob, ear, or husk.
18. transitive verb. To throw shells or bombs upon or into; to bombard; as, to shell a town.
19. intransitive verb. To fall off, as a shell, crust, etc.
20. intransitive verb. To cast the shell, or exterior covering; to fall out of the pod or husk; as, nuts shell in falling.
21. intransitive verb. To be disengaged from the ear or husk; as, wheat or rye shells in reaping.
22. noun. hard outer covering or case of certain organisms such as arthropods and turtles

    Synonyms: carapace, cuticle, shield

23. noun. the hard largely calcareous covering of a mollusc or a brachiopod
24. noun. a metal sheathing of uniform thickness (such as the shield attached to an artillery piece to protect the gunners)

    Synonyms: plate, scale

25. noun. ammunition consisting of a cylindrical metal casing containing an explosive charge and a projectile; fired from a large gun
26. noun. the housing or outer covering of something

    "the clock has a walnut case"

    Synonyms: case, casing

27. noun. a very light narrow racing boat
28. noun. a rigid covering that envelops an object

    "the satellite is covered with a smooth shell of ice"

29. noun. the exterior covering of a bird's egg

    Synonyms: eggshell

30. noun. the hard usually fibrous outer layer of some fruits especially nuts
31. noun. the material that forms the hard outer covering of many animals
32. verb. remove the husks from

    "husk corn"

    Synonyms: husk

33. verb. remove from its shell or outer covering

    "shell the legumes"

    "shell mussels"

34. verb. come out better in a competition, race, or conflict

    "Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship"

    "We beat the competition"

    Synonyms: beat, crush, trounce, vanquish

35. verb. use explosives on

    "The enemy has been shelling us all day"

    Synonyms: blast

36. verb. look for and collect shells by the seashore
37. verb. hit the pitches of hard and regularly

    "He shelled the pitcher for eight runs in the first inning"

38. verb. fall out of the pod or husk

    "The corn shelled"

39. verb. create by using explosives

    "blast a passage through the mountain"

    Synonyms: blast

Synonyms

carapace, cuticle, shield, plate, scale, case, casing, eggshell, husk, beat, crush, trounce, vanquish, blast

Anagrams

Other playable words that use exactly the letters in shell:

hells

Common word forms

shells, shelled, sheller, shellful, shelling

Words from these letters

If you are holding these tiles, the unscrambler for SHELL lists every valid word you can make from the same letters, including shorter plays.