scallop shell
1
4.4
- noun
- /ˈskæl.əp ʃɛl/
:
concha de vieira
- The Darwin family's ancestral coat of arms consisted of three scallop shells in a row.
- a silver scallop shell
Examples
-
The silver scallop shell glinted in the candlelight.
Fiction book (1993) -
He reached out slowly and took the scallop shell, looked at it, then handed it to his son.
Fiction book (1993) -
Sir Robert began by showing them the silver scallop shell and asking if they had seen it before.
Fiction book (1993) -
"What happened after you found the scallop shell?"
Fiction book (1993) -
A small number of scallop shells lay on the floor near his right shoulder.
Academic text (2009) -
Shaped like a scallop shell, it was made of silver.
Fiction book (1993) -
He gave her the scallop shell, still strung on its blue ribbon.
Fiction book (1993) -
You can find paintings and carvings of scallop shells dating back thousands of years to the Greeks and Romans, and even before.
Fiction book (1999) -
The scallop shell is often used in jewelry designs for its unique shape and beauty.
-
During our beach trip, we collected several scallop shells that we found washed up on the shore.
Synonyms
26
1.0
A hard curved cover left by a sea animal often found on beaches
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the fan-shaped shell of a scallop' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'scallop' (a marine bivalve) and 'shell' (a hard outer case), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it refers to the shell belonging to that animal. The noun+noun composition is a standard, literal pattern without idiomatic or metaphorical shift and is cross-linguistically common.
Etymology
Scallop shell may come from pilgrims long ago who wore the scallop shell as a badge and used the shell to scoop water or food on their journey. That's why the scallop shell became a well-known 'symbol' and a common 'decoration' we still see today.