shell (shel)

[ angles to the mortise for the pin which forms the axle of the sheave. See cuts under block1. A block consists of a shell, sheave, pin, and strap (or strop). The shell is the frame or case. Qualtrough, Boat Sailer's Manual, p. 13. 7. The thin film of copper which forms the face of an electrotype, and is afterward backed with type-metal to the required thickne .-8. Something resembling or suggesting a shell in structure or use. (a) A frail structure or ve el incapable of sustaining rough handling, or of which the interior has been destroyed: as, the house is a mere shell. His seraglio, which is now only the shell of a building, has the air of a Roman palace. Pococke , Description of the East, II. i. 91. The ruin'd shells of hollow towers. Tennyson, In Memoriam, lxxvi. (b) Any framework or exterior structure regarded as not being completed or filled in. The Marquis of Medina Cidonia, in his viceroyalty, made the shell of a house, which he had not time to finish, that commands a view of the whole bay, and would have been a very noble building had he brought it to perfection. Add is on , Remarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. 426). (c) A kind of rough coffin; also, a thin coffin designed to be inclosed by a more substantial one. (d) A racing-boat of light build, long, low, and narrow (generally made of cedar IMG:content-0842.jpg:[graphic] IMG:content-0843.png:[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small] shell When rowing alone in a single gig or shell the amateur will encounter in his early le ons the novel experience of considerable difficulty in maintaining the balance of his boat. Tribune Book of Sports, p. 320. (e) Collectively, the outside plates of a boiler. 9. A hollow object of metal, paper, or the like, used to contain explosives. Especially (a) In pyrotechny, a sort of case, usually of paper, thrown into the air, often by the explosion of another part of the firework, and bursting by the ignition of the charge from a fuse usually lighted by the same explosion. (b) Milit., a metal case containing an explosive, formerly spherical and thrown from mortars or smooth-bore cannon, now generally long and partly cylindrical with a conical or conoidal IMG:content-0844.png:[blocks in formation] Shell for use in Army and Navy Breech-loading Rifled Ordnance. a, body of shell, of cast-iron for ordinary use, or of steel for penetrating armor: b, rotating ring of copper, which engages the rifle grooves and imparts axial rotation to the shell; c, powder-charge; d, Hotch ki percu ion-fuse. point; a bombshell. Shells are exploded either by a fuse calculated to burn a definite length of time and ignited by the blaze of the gun, or by the concu ion of striking. Spherical shells were formerly used also as hand-grenades. See cut under percu ion - fuse. 10. A copper cylinder used as a roller in printing on paper or calico, the design being engraved upon the outer surface: so called because it is thin and hollow, and is mounted upon a wooden roller when in use.-11. A part of the guard of a sword, consisting of a solid plate, sometimes perforated, attached to the cro -guard on either side. The combination of the two shells resulted in the cup-guard, I imagined that his weapon had perforated my lungs, and of consequence that the wound was mortal; therefore, determined not to die unrevenged, I seized his shell, which was close to my breast, before he could disentangle his point, and, keeping it fast with my left hand, short ened my own sword with my right, intending to run him Smollett, Roderick Random, lix. ( Davies.) through the heart. A of a and the same in the Shell. with Silver and Gold hilted Sword die Trophy Patterel, Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, [I. 157. 12. A shell-jacket. -13. A concave-faced tool of cast-iron, in which convex lenses are ground to shape. The gla is attached to the face of a runner, and is worked around in the shell with a swinging stroke. E. H. Knight. The grinding and polishing tools. for concave lenses consist of a concave rough grinding-tool of cast iron, called a shell Ure, Dict., III. 105. 14. A gouge-bit or quill-bit.-15. In weaving , the part of the lay into the grooves of which the reed fits. They are called respectively upper and under shells . E. H. Knight .-16. A musical instrument such as a lyre, the first lyre being made, according to cla ic legend, of strings drawn over a tortoise's shell. When Jubal struck the corded shell . Dryden, Song for St. Cecilia's Day. When Music, heavenly maid, was young,... The Pa ions oft, to hear her shell , Thronged around her magic cell. Collins, The Pa ions. Cheered by the strength of Ronald's shell, E'en age forgot his tre es hoar. Scott , Glenfinlas. 17. In some public schools, an intermediate cla or form. The sixth form stood close by the door on the left.... The fifth form behind them, twice their number and not quite so big. These on the left; and on the right the lower fifth, shell , and all the junior forms in order. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 5. "The shell " [at Harrow School], observed Bertram, "means a sort of cla between the other cla es. Father's so glad Johnnie has got into the shell ." Jean Ingelow , Fated to be Free, xix. 18. Outward show, without substance or reality. So devout are the Romanists about this outward shell of religion that, if an altar be moved, or a stone of it broken, it ought to be reconsecrated. Ayliffe , Parergon. Baptismal shell. See baptismal .-Blind shell. (a) Α bombshell which, from accident or a bad fuse, has fall. en without exploding. (b) A shell filled with fuse-composition, and having an enlarged fuse-hole, used at night to determine the range. (c) A shell whose bursting charge is exploded by the heat of impact. - Bombay shell, a name in India for the Ca is rufa , one of the helmet-shells, imported at Bombay in large quantities from Zanzibar, and reshipped to England and France to make cameos.- Chambered shells. See chambered. - Chankor shank-shell. Same as chank2 . Chas les i an shell. See Chas les i an. Coat-of-mail shell, a chiton. See cuts under Polyplacophora and Chitonidæ. - Convolute shell. See convolute. Incendiary, live, magnetic 5565 shell. See the adjectives. - Left-handed shell, a sinistral or sinistrorse shell of a univalve. See sinistral. Mask-shell, a gastropod of the genus Persona, resembling a triton. P. P. Carpenter. - Metal shell, a cartridge-case of thin, light metal charged with powder and shot (or ball), for use in breech-loading guns and rifles, and fitted with a cap or primer for firing by percu ion, They are used and loaded like shells (see below), and sheller The varnish is usually applied more than once, each coat being thoroughly rubbed, so that the pores of the wood are filled up and the surface is left smooth, but without any thick coat of varnish covering it. - Shellac varnish, a varnish made by di olving shellac in some solvent, as alcohol, with sometimes the addition of a coloring matter. shellac (she-lak' or shel'ak), v. t.; pret. and pp. shellacked, ppr. shellacking. [Also shellack; In the finishing of this cla of rods they are polished with pumice stone, their pores are filled with whiting and water, and they are shellacked and varnished. rio us pyrotechnic devices. It is fired from a mortar, and is fitted with a fuse so regulated as to explode it at the summit of its trajectory. (b) A cartridge-case of pasteboard, containing a charge of powder and shot, to be exploded by center-fire or rim-fire percu ion, now much used for breech-loading shot-guns instead of metal shells. They are made in enormous quantities for sportsmen, of different sizes to fit the usual bores, and of various patterns in respect of the devices for firing. Some have pretty solid metal heads, with nipples for percu ion-caps, and such may be reloaded like metal shells, though they are not generally used after once firing. They are loaded by special machines for the purpose, including a device for crimping the open end down over the shot-wad, and take different charges of powder and shot according to the game for killing which they are designed to be used. See cut under shot-cartridge. (c) A rowboat made of paper. See def. 8 (d).-Perspective shell. See perspective and Solari um. - Pilgrim's shell. See pilgrim. - Purple-shell, a gastropod affording a dyestuff. See Murex, Purpura, and purple, n.-Ram's-horn shell, an ammonite. - Reverse shell. See reverse. Right-handed shell, a dextral or dextrorse shell of a univalve. See dextral.- Shell couching. See couching1, 5. - Slit top-shell, any mem ber the Sci urellidæ. P. P. Carpenter. - Watering pot shell. See aspergillum and watering - pot. (See also acorn-shell, agate-shell, apple - shell, ark-shell, auger-shell, basket - shell, boat - shell, bubble - shell, cameo-shell, carrier- shell, clink-shell, cone-shell, date-shell, ear-shell, egg-shell, fan l - shell, jingle - shell, shell, fig-shell, gold-shell, helmet- shell, idol- shell, ladder-shell, lamp-shell, lantern-shell, nutshell, pheasants hell, razor-shell, rice-shell, rock-shell, rosary-shell, scorpions hell, screw-shell, shuttle-shell, silver-shell, tooth -shell, top shell, trumpet - shell, tube - shell, tulip - shell, tun - shell, turban shell, tusk-shell, wedge -shell, wing-shell, worm- shell.)