Shelley's case 
Shelley's case. See case 1 . 
shell-fire (shel'fir), . Phosphorescence from 
decayed straw, etc., or touchwood. Halliiri'll. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
shell-fish (shel'fish), 11. sing, and pi. [Early 
mod. E. shelfish, slielfisslie, < ME. shelfish, < 
AS. scelfisc, scylflsc (= Icel. skelfiskr), < seell, 
scyll, shell, + fise, fish.] An aquatic animal, 
not a fish, having a shell, and especially one 
which comes under popular notice as used for 
food or for ornament. Specifically -(a) A testa- 
ceous or conchiferous molluak, as an oyster, clam, scallop, 
whelk, piddock, etc. ; collectively, the Mollusca. 
The inhabitantes of this Ilande (Molucca), at suche tyme 
as the Spanyardes came th ether, toke a shelf 'yeshe [Tridacna 
gigas] of suche houdge bignes yat the fit-she therof wayed 
.zlvij. pound weyght. Wherby it is apparaunt yat great 
pearles should be found there, forasmuch aa pearles are 
the byrth of certayn shel/ishes. 
R. Eden, it. of Sebastian Minister (First Books on Amer- 
[ica, ed. Arber, p. 34). 
(b) A crnstaceous animal, or crustacean, as a crab, lobster, 
shrimp, or prawn. 
shell-flower (shel'flou'Ar), . 1. See Molu- 
cella. 2. The turtlehead or snakehead, Che- 
lone glabra, and other species. 3. One of va- 
rious species of Alpinia of the Zingiberacex. 
shell-follicle (shel'fol'i-kl), . A shell-sac; 
the integument of a mollusk, in the form of an 
open follicle or sac in which the shell primarily 
lies, out of and over which it may and usually 
does extend. 
shell-gage (shel'gaj), n. A form of calipers 
with curved detachable interchangeable arms 
and a graduated arc, for determining the thick- 
ness of the walls of a hollow projectile. 
shell-gland (shel'gland), n. 1. The shell-se- 
creting organ of a mollusk. It appears at a very 
early period of embryonic development, and is the active 
secretory substance of the shell-sac or shell-follicle. The 
original shell-gland of the embryo may be transient and 
be replaced by a secondary shell-forming area, or may be 
permanently retained in a modified form. 
2. An excretory organ of the lower crusta- 
ceans, as entomostracans, forming a looped ca- 
nal in a mantle-like fold of the integument, one 
end being cascal, the other opening beneath the 
mantle : so called from its position beneath the 
shell. See cuts under Apus and Daplniia. 
At the anterior boundary of the head, the double, black, 
median eye . . . shines through the carapace, and at the 
sides of the latter two coiled tubes with clear content!*, 
the so-called shell-gland*, are seen. 
Huxley, Anat Invert., p. 235. 
Shell-grinder (shel'grin'der), n. The Port 
Jackson shark. See Cestraciontidse, and cut 
under selachian. Encyc.Srit., XX. 174. 
shell-gun (shel'gun), . A cannon intended to 
be used for throwing shells ; especially, such 
a cannon used for horizontal firing, as distin- 
guished from a mortar, which is used for verti- 
cal firing. 
shellhead (shel'hed), n. The dobson or hell- 
grammite. [Georgia.] 
shell-heap (sherhep),M. A large accumulation 
of shells, usually mixed with bones of animals, 
ashes, bits of charcoal, and utensils of various 
kinds, the whole being the remains of a dwell- 
ing-place of a race subsisting chiefly on shell- 
fish. Such accumulations are found in many places in 
Europe and America, along coasts and rivers. They are 
sometimes of prehistoric age, but similar accumulations 
may be forming and are forming at the present time in any 
part of the world where savage tribes find the conditions 
favorable for the support of life on shell-fish. See kitchen- 
midden. 
shell-hook (shel'huk), . An implement for 
grappling and carrying projectiles. 
shell-ibis (shel'i"bis), w. A stork of the genus 
Anastomus. See cut under operibill. 
shell-ice (shel'is), . Ice left suspended by the 
withdrawal of the water beneath. Such ice may 
be either over ice formed earlier and then overflowed or 
over the land ; the thickness ranges upward from a film, 
but the name is generally applied only to ice that is shell- 
like in thinness. 
Shelling (shel'ing), n. [Verbal n. of shell, r.] 
1. The act of removing the shell. 2. The act 
of bombarding a place. 3. A commercial name 
for groats. Simmonds. 
Shell-insectst (shel'in"sekts), n. pi. An old 
name of entomostracous crustaceans; the in- 
sectes d. coquilles of the French. Also shelled 
insects. 
shell-jacket (shel'jak'et), n. An undress mili- 
tary jacket. 
Three turbaned soldiers in tight shell-jackets and baggy 
breeches. Harper's Mag., LXXX 396. 
shell-lac (shel-lak'), n. Same as shellac. 
shell-less (shel'les),n. [<shell+ -less.'] Hav- 
ing no shell; not testaceous ; tunicate: as, the 
5566 
shell-less mollusks (that is, the ascidians). See 
Nuda (6). Curler (trans.); Huxley. 
shell-lime (shel'lim), n. Lime obtained by 
burning sea-shells. 
shell-limestone (shel'lim'ston), H. A deposit 
of shells, in a more or less fragmentary condi- 
tion, which has become imperfectly solidified 
by pressure or by the infiltration of calcareous 
or sandy material. Shell-limestone, or shelly lime- 
stone, is called in Florida coquina. The muschelkalk, a 
division of the Triassic, Is a shell-limestone, and this is 
a literal translation of the German name for this rock. See 
Triateic and muscheVtalk. 
shellman (shel'man), . ; pi. shellmen (-men). 
One of a gun's crew on board a man-of-war 
whose duty it is to pass shells for loading. 
shell-marble (shermar ;i 'bl), n. An ornamental 
marble containing fossil shells. See marble, 1. 
shell-marl (shel'marl), n. A white earthy de- 
posit, crumbling readily on exposure to the air, 
and resulting from the accumulation of more 
or less disintegrated fragments of shells. Such 
deposits are of frequent occurrence at the bottom of lakes 
and ponds, or where such bodies of water have formerly 
existed. 
shell-meat (shel'met), M. Shelled food; some 
edible having a shell, as shell-fish or eggs. 
[Bare.] 
Shellmeati may be eaten after foul hands without any 
harm. Fuller, Holy State, p. 386. (Latham.) 
shell-mound (shel'mouud), . A mound or 
heap chiefly made of shells of mollusks which 
have in former times been used for food; a 
shell-heap (which see). 
shell-Ornament (sherdr'na-ment), n. Orna- 
mentation of which forms studied from natu- 
ral shells form an important part ; any piece of 
decoration of which any shell-form is a charac- 
teristic part. 
shell-parrakeet (shel'par'a-ket), n. The Aus- 
tralian undulated, waved, or zebra grass-parra- 
keet, Melopsittacus undulatus. See cut under 
Melopsittacus. 
shell-parrot (shel'par'ot), w. Same as shell- 
parrakeet. 
shell-proof (shel'prof), . Same us bomb-proof. 
shell-pump (shel'pump), . In well-boring, a 
sand-pump. 
shell-quail (shel'kwal), n. An American quail 
of the genus CalUpepla, as C.squamaia; a scale- 
quail. See cut under CalUpepla. 
shell-reducer (shel're-du'ser), . A tool 
made on the principle of pincers, with which 
a die or a plug is used to reduce or expand 
a cartridge-shell in order to make it fit the 
bullet. 
shell-room (shel'rom), n. A room on board 
ship below the berth-deck, constructed and 
lighted like a magazine, and used for the stow- 
age of loaded shell. 
shell-sac (shel'sak), n. Same as shell-follicle. 
shell-sand (shel'sand), n. Sand chiefly com- 
posed of the triturated or comminuted shells 
of mollusks, valuable as a fertilizer. 
shell-snail (shel'snal), n. A snail with a shell; 
any such terrestrial gastropod, as distinguished 
from slugs, which have a small shell, if any. 
Both these forms used to be called snails. 
shellum (shel'iim), n. Same as schelm, skellum. 
[Old Eng. and Scotch.] 
shell-work (shel'werk), . Ornamental work 
made up of marine shells, usually small, com- 
bined in various patterns and glued to a sur- 
face, as of wood or cardboard. See sea-bean, 2. 
shell-worm (shel'werm), n. 1. A worm with a 
shell ; a tubicolous annelid with a hard case, as 
a serpula. See cut under Scrpula. 2. A mol- 
lusk of the family Dentaliidee; a tooth-shell. 
See cut under tooth-shell. 
Shelly 1 (shel'i), a. [< shell + -yl.] 1. Abound- 
ing in, provided with, or covered with shells. 
The Ocean rolling, and the shelly Shore, 
Beautiful Objects, shall delight no more. 
Prior, Solomon, ill. 
Go to your cave, and see it in its beauty, 
The billows else may wash its shelly sides. 
J. Baiilie. 
2. Consisting of a shell or shells ; forming or 
formed by a shell. 
The snail . . . 
Shrinks backward in his shelly cave. 
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 1034. 
3. Of the nature of a shell; testaceous; con- 
chylious ; chitinous, as the carapace of a crab ; 
calcareous, as the shell of a mollusk ; silicious, 
as the test of a radiolarian. 
This membrane was entirely of the shelly nature. 
Goldsmith, Hist. Earth, IV. v. 
sheltron 
shelly 2 (shel'i), H. ; pi. xliellir'.* (-in). [Appur. 
an abbr. dim. of shell-apple, shehl-apple.] Same 
as chaffinch, 1. Macgillivray. 
shelm, n. See schelm. 
shelook (she-lok'), . [< Ar. slialulc.~\ An Ara- 
bian name for any hot, dry, dust-bearing des- 
ert wind, excluding the simoom. 
shelter (shel'ter), . [An altered form of shel- 
tron, sheltrum, q. v. The formation of tliis 
word became obscured, and the terminal ele- 
ment conformed to the common termination 
-ter, the first syllable being prob. always more 
or less vaguely associated with shield, ME. and 
dial, sheld, its actual origin, and perhaps in part 
with x/iea/ 2 .] 1. A cover or defense from ex- 
posure, attack, injury, distress, annoyance, or 
the like; whatever shields or serves as a pro- 
tection, as from the weather, attack, etc. ; a 
place of protection : as, a shelter from the rain 
or wind ; a shelter for the friendless. 
I will bear thee to some shelter. 
Shale., As you Like it, ii. 6. 17. 
The healing plant shall aid, 
From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade. 
Pope, Messiah, 1. 18. 
2. The protection or immunity from attack, 
exposure, distress, etc., afforded by a place or 
thing; refuge; asylum. 
Your most noble vertues, . . . under which I hope to 
have shelter against all storms that dare threaten. 
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, Ded. 
It happened to be a very windy evening, so we took 
shelter within the walls of some cottages. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 164. 
If a show'r approach, 
You find safe shelter in the next stage-coach. 
Cowper, Retirement, 1. 492. 
The tribunals ought to be sacred places of refuge, 
where . . . the Innocent of all parties may find shelter. 
Macaulay, Sir J. Mackintosh. 
=Syn. 1. Screen, shield. 2. Cover, covert, sanctuary, 
haven. See the verb, 
shelter (shel'ter), r. [< shelter, H.] I. trails. 
1. To protect from exposure, attack, injury, 
distress, or the like ; afford cover or protection 
to; hence, to harbor: as, to shelter thieves. 
The weeds which his broad-spreading leaves did shelter. 
Shale., Rich. II., ill 4. 60. 
Why was not I deform'd, that, shelter'd in 
Secure neglect, I might have scap'd this sin ? 
J. Beaumont, Psyche, ii. 142. 
In vain I strove to check my growing Flame, 
Or shelter Passion under Friendship's Name. 
Prior, Celia to Damon. 
Near thy city-gates the Lord 
Sheltered his Jonah with a gourd. 
D. G. Rossetti, The Burden of Nineveh. 
A lonely valley sheltered from the wind. 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 325. 
2. To place under cover or shelter; seek shel- 
ter or protection for ; house ; with a reflexive 
pronoun, to take refuge ; betake one's self to 
cover or a safe place. 
They sheltered themselves under a rock. Abbot 
Another royal mandate, so anxious was he to shelter 
himself beneath the royal shadow, he [Cranmer] caused 
to be addressed to his own officers, to cite his own clergy 
to Lambeth. R. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., xxf. 
= Syn. 1. To Defend, Protect, etc. (see keep), shield, screen, 
shroud, house, ensconce, hide. 
II. in trans. To take shelter. 
There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat, 
Shelters in cool. Milton, P. L., ix. 1109. 
shelterer (shel'ter-er), . One who shelters, 
protects, or harbors : as, a shelterer of thieves 
or of outcasts. 
shelterless (shel'ter-les), . [< shelter + -less.'] 
1. Affording no shelter or cover, as from the 
elements; exposed: as, a shelterless roadstead. 
No more orange groves and rose gardens ; but the tree- 
less, shelterless plain, with the fierce sun by day and frosts 
at night Froude, Sketches, p. 211. 
2. Destitute of shelter or protection ; without 
home or refuge. 
Now, sad and shelterless, perhaps, she lies, 
Where piercing winds blow sharp, and the chill rain 
Drops from some pent-house on her wretched head. 
Rome, Jane Shore, v. 1. 
shelter-tent (shel'ter-tent), . See tent. 
sheltery (shel'ter-i), a. [< shelter + -y 1 .] Af- 
fording shelter. [Rare.] 
The warm and sheltery shores of Gibraltar. 
Gilbert White, Nat. Hist Selborne (ed. 1876), p. 114. 
sheltie, See shelty 1 . 
sheltopusick, n. See scheltopusik. Huxley. 
sheltront, sheltrumt, [Early mod. E. shel- 
tron, occurring in the var. form jeltron ; < ME. 
sheltron, sheltrone, sheltroun, slieltrun, scheltron, 
scheltrone, scheltroun, schiltroun, sheltrum, schil- 
trum, ischeldtrume, slieldtrume,shultrom, Sc. chel- 
