a. [ OE., fr. sheld a shield, probably in allusion to the ornamentation of shields. See Shield. ] Variegated; spotted; speckled; piebald. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ Perhaps for sheld dapple. Cf. Sheldrake. ] (Zool.) A chaffinch. [ Written also sheldapple, and shellapple. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The common sheldrake. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Sheld + drake. ] 1. (Zool.) Any one of several species of large Old World ducks of the genus Tadorna and allied genera, especially the European and Asiatic species. (Tadorna cornuta syn. Tadorna tadorna), which somewhat resembles a goose in form and habit, but breeds in burrows. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ It has the head and neck greenish black, the breast, sides, and forward part of the back brown, the shoulders and middle of belly black, the speculum green, and the bill and frontal bright red. Called also shelduck, shellduck, sheldfowl, skeelduck, bergander, burrow duck, and links goose. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The Australian sheldrake (Tadorna radja) has the head, neck, breast, flanks, and wing coverts white, the upper part of the back and a band on the breast deep chestnut, and the back and tail black. The chestnut sheldrake of Australia (Casarca tadornoides) is varied with black and chestnut, and has a dark green head and neck. The ruddy sheldrake, or Braminy duck (Casarca rutila), and the white-winged sheldrake (Casarca leucoptera), are related Asiatic species. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any one of the American mergansers. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The name is also loosely applied to other ducks, as the canvasback, and the shoveler. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Sheld variegated + duck. ] (Zool.) The sheldrake. [ Written also shellduck. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Shelves [ OE. shelfe, schelfe, AS. scylfe; akin to G. schelfe, Icel. skjālf. In senses 2 & 3, perhaps a different word (cf. Shelve, v. i.). ] 1. (Arch.) A flat tablet or ledge of any material set horizontally at a distance from the floor, to hold objects of use or ornament. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A sand bank in the sea, or a rock, or ledge of rocks, rendering the water shallow, and dangerous to ships. [ 1913 Webster ]

On the tawny sands and shelves. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

On the secret shelves with fury cast. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mining) A stratum lying in a very even manner; a flat, projecting layer of rock. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Naut.) A piece of timber running the whole length of a vessel inside the timberheads. D. Kemp. [ 1913 Webster ]

To lay on the shelf, to lay aside as unnecessary or useless; to dismiss; to discard. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Abounding in shelves; full of dangerous shallows. “A shelfy coast.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Full of strata of rock. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The tillable fields are in some places . . . so shelfy that the corn hath much ado to fasten its root. Carew. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To fall off, as a shell, crust, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To cast the shell, or exterior covering; to fall out of the pod or husk; as, nuts shell in falling. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To be disengaged from the ear or husk; as, wheat or rye shells in reaping. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Shelled p. pr. & vb. n. Shelling. ] 1. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To separate the kernels of (an ear of Indian corn, wheat, oats, etc.) from the cob, ear, or husk. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To throw shells or bombs upon or into; to bombard; as, to shell a town. [ 1913 Webster ]

To shell out, to distribute freely; to bring out or pay, as money. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. shelle, schelle, AS. scell, scyll; akin to D. shel, Icel. skel, Goth. skalja a tile, and E. skill. Cf. Scale of fishes, Shale, Skill. ] 1. A hard outside covering, as of a fruit or an animal. Specifically: (a) The covering, or outside part, of a nut; as, a hazelnut shell. (b) A pod. (c) The hard covering of an egg. [ 1913 Webster ]

Think him as a serpent's egg, . . .
And kill him in the shell. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

(d) (Zool.) 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. (e) (Zool.) Hence, by extension, any mollusks having such a covering. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mil.) 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The case which holds the powder, or charge of powder and shot, used with breechloading small arms. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Any slight hollow structure; a framework, or exterior structure, regarded as not complete or filled in; as, the shell of a house. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A coarse kind of coffin; also, a thin interior coffin inclosed in a more substantial one. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. An instrument of music, as a lyre, -- the first lyre having been made, it is said, by drawing strings over a tortoise shell. [ 1913 Webster ]

When Jubal struck the chorded shell. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. An engraved copper roller used in print works. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. pl. The husks of cacao seeds, a decoction of which is often used as a substitute for chocolate, cocoa, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Naut.) The outer frame or case of a block within which the sheaves revolve. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. A light boat the frame of which is covered with thin wood or with paper; as, a racing shell. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. Something similar in form or action to an ordnance shell; specif.: (a) (Fireworks) A case or cartridge containing a charge of explosive material, which bursts after having been thrown high into the air. It is often elevated through the agency of a larger firework in which it is contained. (b) (Oil Wells) A torpedo. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

12. A concave rough cast-iron tool in which a convex lens is ground to shape. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

13. A gouge bit or shell bit. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

Message shell, a bombshell inside of which papers may be put, in order to convey messages. --
Shell bit, a tool shaped like a gouge, used with a brace in boring wood. See Bit, n., 3. --
Shell button. (a) A button made of shell. (b) A hollow button made of two pieces, as of metal, one for the front and the other for the back, -- often covered with cloth, silk, etc. --
Shell cameo, a cameo cut in shell instead of stone. --
Shell flower. (Bot.) Same as Turtlehead. --
Shell gland. (Zool.) (a) A glandular organ in which the rudimentary shell is formed in embryonic mollusks. (b) A glandular organ which secretes the eggshells of various worms, crustacea, mollusks, etc. --
Shell gun, a cannon suitable for throwing shells. --
Shell ibis (Zool.), the openbill of India. --
Shell jacket, an undress military jacket. --
Shell lime, lime made by burning the shells of shellfish. --
Shell marl (Min.), a kind of marl characterized by an abundance of shells, or fragments of shells. --
Shell meat, food consisting of shellfish, or testaceous mollusks. Fuller. --
Shell mound. See under Mound. --
Shell of a boiler, the exterior of a steam boiler, forming a case to contain the water and steam, often inclosing also flues and the furnace; the barrel of a cylindrical, or locomotive, boiler. --
Shell road, a road of which the surface or bed is made of shells, as oyster shells. --
Shell sand, minute fragments of shells constituting a considerable part of the seabeach in some places. [ 1913 Webster ]