Origin of shell
before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English
scell (north),
sciell; cognate with Dutch
schil peel, skin, rink, Old Norse
skel shell, Gothic
skalja tile; (v.) derivative of the noun; cf.
shale
OTHER WORDS FROM shell
shell-less, adjective shell-like, adjective de-shell, verb (used with object)Words nearby shell
British Dictionary definitions for shell out (1 of 2)
shell out
verb
(adverb) informal
to pay out or hand over (money)
Word Origin for shell out
C19: from
shell (in the sense: to remove from a pod or (figuratively) a purse)
British Dictionary definitions for shell out (2 of 2)
shell
/ (ʃɛl) /
noun
verb
See also
shell out
Derived forms of shell
shell-less, adjective shelly, adjectiveWord Origin for shell
Old English
sciell; related to Old Norse
skel shell, Gothic
skalja tile, Middle Low German
schelle shell; see
scale
1,
shale
Scientific definitions for shell out
shell
[ shĕl ]
- The usually hard outer covering of certain animals, such as mollusks, insects, and turtles.
- The hard outer covering of a bird's egg.
- The hard outer covering of a seed, nut, or fruit.
- A set of electron orbitals that have nearly the same energy. Electrons in outer shells have greater energy than those in shells closer to the nucleus. Elements in the Periodic Table range from the lightest elements with electrons normally occupying one shell (hydrogen and helium) to the heaviest, with electrons in seven shells (radium and uranium, for instance). See more at atomic spectrum orbital subshell. See Note at metal.
- Any of the stable states of other particles or collections of particles (such as the nucleons in an atomic nucleus) at a given energy or small range of energies.
Idioms and Phrases with shell out (1 of 2)
shell out
Pay, hand over, as in We had to shell out $1,000 for auto repairs. This expression transfers taking a seed such as a pea or nut out of its pod or shell to taking money out of one's pocket. [Colloquial; c. 1800]
Idioms and Phrases with shell out (2 of 2)
shell