tank shell
1
6.2
- noun
- /tæŋk ʃɛl/
- Specialized
:
proyectil de tanque
- During the military exercise, soldiers fired several tank shells at the target range.
- tank shells, artillery
- tank shell casings
- fire tank shells
And this gentleman stood up and he had a tank shell with him.
- And this gentleman stood up and he had a tank shell with him.
Examples
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The village was devastated when a tank shell exploded in the center of the square.
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You know, suddenly we saw an orange glow and this is basically... ...the tank shell that hit our office… - Help!
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"Size of a tank shell, I guess, sir."
Fiction book (1994) -
Tank shell.
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Some were killed by so-called friendly fire – others, victims of calculated attacks, missiles, tank shells and bombs dropped on... ...or near journalists.
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There were at least 150 desertions from the Soviet Army in eastern Germany in 1990, including a regimental commander and a weapons officer who absconded with three advanced Soviet tank shells.
Academic text (1991) -
The Israeli military has fired tank shells into Syria for the second consecutive day after a stray mortar round landed in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
Blog text (1) -
Today, Saturday, the skies of Gaza are filled with Israeli fighter jets, attack helicopters, and unmanned drones armed with high-tech missiles and artillery tank shells.
Blog text (32) -
The artillery shells, the tank shells, and rocket casings—apparently all of them—have failed quality-control tests.
Fiction book (1993) -
Particularly now, as Gaza's 1.4 million inhabitants sit up each night waiting anxiously for an Israeli invasion aimed at rescuing a captured soldier, air strikes and tank shells are woven into the fabric of daily life.
Academic text (2007)
Synonyms
218
8.4
A metal container filled with explosives and fired from a cannon or tank
8
7.5
A metal object fired from a large gun that often has an explosive inside
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'an explosive projectile fired from the main gun of a tank' is directly derivable from combining 'tank' (armored vehicle with a cannon) and 'shell' (a projectile), following a regular noun–noun compounding pattern. This compositional structure is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The compound tank shell comes from its two parts: the vehicle tank and the metal shell. Imagine a heavy metal case fired from a tank's main gun that explodes on impact, so it means 'an explosive projectile fired from the main gun of a tank'.