shell

1. 1.

   use explosives on

   “The enemy has been shelling us all day”

   Synonymsblast

   Broaderbombard

   Narrowercrump
2. 2.

   create by using explosives

   “blast a passage through the mountain”

   Synonymsblast

   Broadermake
3. 3.

   fall out of the pod or husk

   “The corn shelled”

   Broaderemerge
4. 4.

   hit the pitches of hard and regularly

   “He shelled the pitcher for eight runs in the first inning”

   Broaderhit
5. 5.

   look for and collect shells by the seashore

   Broadergather
6. 6.

   come out better in a competition, race, or conflict

   “Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship”

   “We beat the competition”

   “Harvard defeated Yale in the last football game”

   Synonymsbeatbeat outcrushtrouncevanquish

   Broaderget the better of

   Narroweroutpointwalk over
7. 7.

   remove from its shell or outer covering

   “shell the legumes”

   “shell mussels”

   Broaderremove

   Narrowerpod
8. 8.

   remove the husks from

   “husk corn”

   Synonymshusk

   Broaderremove

Other forms of shell

plural

shells·

past tense

shelled·

present participle

shelling·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about shell

What does shell mean?

shell means "ammunition consisting of a cylindrical metal casing containing an explosive charge and a projectile; fired from a large gun". That is the primary sense; the word has 18 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in shell?

shell has 1 syllable: shell. In IPA it is /ˈʃɛl/.

What is another word for shell?

Close synonyms include carapace, cuticle, shield, eggshell, racing shell. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is shell a common word?

shell is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with shell?

5 words rhyme with shell. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.