to shell
- verb
- /ʃɛl/
- The old city was shelled from land, sea, and air.
- shell a city
- shell an area
Now, call me old fashioned, but once you're shelling, that's pretty much direct military action.
- Now, call me old fashioned, but once you're shelling, that's pretty much direct military action.
- If the Marines storm into this beach at Kuwait, should we first shell these hotels and gun emplacements?
Examples
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Chinese troops shelled Quemoy in 1958 and again in 1962.
Academic text (2002) -
The soldiers began to shell the enemy positions with heavy artillery fire.
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They'll shell us from both sides.
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British and American ships have been shelling the city.
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If the town is not surrendered in two days' time, it will be shelled.
Fiction book (2002) -
Orphanages and hospitals are being shelled daily.
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Admiral Trost was so angry he was ready to shell the port of Haifa.
Fiction book (1997) -
French forces shell Damascus, bombarding the Syrian parliament and surrounding neighborhoods.
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Hamas' armed wing claims to have shelled "the occupied city of Tel Aviv."
Blog text (14) -
The Serb forces had appropriated the same tactics used earlier in Croatia: shelling cities and civilians.
Academic text (1998)
Synonyms
To attack a place by dropping explosive devices from planes
To break rock or walls using explosives to make an opening
To attack something repeatedly by throwing things like stones or bombs
Shoot many bullets very quickly at someone or something
To attack a place by throwing a bomb that starts fires
To attack a place suddenly and heavily, often by bombing from planes
To attack a place with heavy guns like cannons for some time
To shoot heavy shells from a large gun
To fire a quick series of shots at someone or something
Antonyms
Idioms
- Informal
To become more confident and willing to talk to other people
- Informal
To become quiet and avoid talking to others when you feel shy or anxious
Phrasal Verbs
Compounds
- Specialized
A metal object fired from a large gun that often has an explosive inside
- Specialized
A small case filled with many small metal balls that is fired from a shotgun
- Specialized
A company that exists only on paper and has no real business used to hide ownership or move money
- Archaic
A severe emotional and physical reaction after a long time in war or heavy fighting
A cheating street game where someone hides an object under cups and makes people guess where it is
A hard outer part of a sea animal that people use for decoration or to add calcium to soil
- Specialized
A group of electrons that surround an atom's centre at the same energy level
A crab that has a hard outer covering because it has not recently shed its skin
A fan-shaped shell with lines from the middle to the edge often used as a symbol
- Specialized
A sea animal with eight overlapping hard plates that clings to rocks
- Specialized
A sea animal with two shells and two arm-like parts with tentacles for feeding
- Specialized
A smooth rounded sea snail shell with a small top often found on sandy beaches
- Specialized
A sea animal that has a long thin shell open at both ends and a foot for digging in sand
- Specialized
A company that exists only on paper and has no real business often used to hide money
A tropical plant with large shiny leaves and white flowers with pink and yellow spots
- Australian
A small Australian parrot often bright green with black and yellow spots that people keep as a colorful pet
- Specialized
Metal plates that form the outside of a steel ship like planks on a wooden ship
- Jargon
A crochet pattern where several loops are made in one place to form a fan shape
- US
A colorful plant that grows in marshes with waxy long leaves and pink and white flowers
- Archaic
A small fast bomb fired from a gun that makes a loud whistling sound and then explodes with a bang
How Intense
Surface Forms
Etymology
Shell (to fire explosive rounds at a place) comes from the military meaning of shell; it means to send explosive 'cases' at a target, so to shell is to attack by firing those shells.