How do you use the word "shell" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "shell" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "shell": Steve had to shell out $50.00 for the speeding ticket he got last week. I found a beautiful shell on the shore.

Shell Meaning

/ʃɛl/

Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA hard external covering of an animal.

nounA hard external covering of an animal., The calcareous or chitinous external covering of mollusks, crustaceans, and some other invertebrates.

Sentence Examples

Steve had to shell out $50.00 for the speeding ticket he got last week.

I found a beautiful shell on the shore.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

blast shield cuticle

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

The turtle pulled its head and legs into its protective ____ to avoid danger.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

We found a beautiful spiraled ____ while beachcombing along the shore after the storm.

Word Origin & History

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- Proto-Indo-European *skolH-yeh₂ Proto-Germanic *skaljō Proto-West Germanic *skallju Old English sċiell Middle English schelle English shell From Middle English schelle, from Old English sċel, sċell, sċiell, sċil, sċill, sċyl, sċyll, from Proto-West Germanic *skallju, from Proto-Germanic *skaljō (“shell; husk; rind; peel”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to cut; to separate, split”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch schil (“bark, rind, skin; crust; shell; slice”), Danish skæl (“scale; dandruff”), Faroese and Icelandic skel (“shell”), Norwegian Bokmål skjell (“shell; scale”), Norwegian Nynorsk skjel (“shell; bivalve; scale; carapace”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌻𐌾𐌰 (skalja, “brick, tile”), French écaille (“scale; shell”), Friulian scae (“scale”), Italian scaglia (“scale; flake, sliver; splinter”); also Breton killi (“grove”), Cornish kelli (“grove”), Irish coill (“forest, wood”), Manx keyll (“forest, wood; grove, plantation”), Scottish Gaelic coille (“forest”), Welsh celli (“grove”), Latin scalpō (“to scratch; to carve”), Ancient Greek σκᾰ́λλω (skắllō, “to hoe, stir up”), Albanian çel (“to open up; to sprout; to hatch up; to rise”), Lithuanian skelti (“to crack, split”), Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Russian скала́ (skalá, “cliff, rock”), Czech skála (“rock”), Polish skała, skáła, szkała (“rock”), Slovak and Slovene skala (“rock”), Ukrainian скала́ (skalá), ска́ля (skálja, “cliff, rock”), Armenian քաղել (kʻaġel, “to pick; to gather; to mow”), Sanskrit कॢप् (kḷp, “to order; to manage; to perform; to create; to cut”). More at shale. Doublet of sheal. * (computing): From being viewed as an outer layer of interface between the user and the operating-system internals.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"[…] if with thee the roaring wells ⁠Should gulf him fathom-deep in brine; ⁠And hands so often clasp’d in mine, Should toss with tangle and with shells." — 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto X”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:

"Upstairs in that chill darkened room which nobody passes who can help it , the old Baronet lies in his coffin shell - an awful form faintly defined beneath the sheet" — 1877, Burke O'Farrell, Proud as Lucifer: A Novel:

"Then they lifted the body into the bag, setting it down like something breakable, zipped the bag, wrapped the whole thing in polythene and carried the stretcher into the shell." — 2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 23:

"when Jubal struck the chorded shell" — 1687, John Dryden, A Song for Cecilia's Day:

"Mr. Thomas adds that, by the time it was scrapped, Kingsley was in very bad condition, little more than a shell in fact. In view of the rough usage to which the engine had been subjected, this is not surprising." — 1953 April, “Notes and News: Locomotive Notes”, in Railway Magazine, page 283:

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