boat shelln.
/ˈbəʊt ʃɛl/, U.S. /ˈboʊt ˌʃɛl/ 1. Any of various marine molluscs, esp. gastropods, with boat-shaped shells; esp. (a) a sea snail of the genus Cymbium (formerly known as Cymba) (family Volutidae), whose large, porcelain-like shells are typically tulip-shaped (now rare); (b) a slipper limpet of the genus Crepidula (family Calyptraeidae).
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1752 J. Hill Gen. Nat. Hist. III. iii. 151 The grey, thick Dolium, called the Boat-shell and Sea-nut.
1761 R. Dodsley Gen. Contents Brit. Mus. ii. 69 Bulla, Boat Shells. They are a Kind of Dolia, but differ from them in that their Surface is smooth.
1819 W. Turton Conchol. Dict. 6 Cylindrical Boat-shell. Anomia cymbiformis.
1856 in Explor. & Surv. Railroad Route to Pacific: Zool. Rep. (U.S. War Dept.) V. 130 Dr. Heerman, who went on shore, found a bank similar to that at San Pedro, and obtained several fossils, among them a gigantic ‘boat shell,’ or Crepidula.
1861 P. P. Carpenter in Rep. Smithsonian Inst. 1860 181 The Boat-shells and Melons are large and thin, with very expanded mouth, and a few sharply-cut pillar-plaits.
1916 R. Lydekker Wild Life of World III. 380 The largest of all are the boat-shells (Cymba) and melon-shells (Cymbium), which are generally yellow in colour, and have smooth surfaces and short spires—which may carry rings of spines—and enormous apertures.
1972 M. J. Ursin Life in & around Salt Marshes 65 (caption) Common boat shell. Crepidula fornicata... The boat shell is one of the most common mollusks found on the tidal flats and in tidal pools after the tide recedes.
2004 G. H. Colt Big House ii. 17 Bare for the first time this summer, our tender feet cringe from the stones and boat shells.
2. A boat-shaped guard on the hilt of a sword. Cf. shell n. 14. Usually attributive.
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1754 Daily Advertiser 12 June Lost about Ten o'Clock, on Saturday Night, by a poor Boy in Shoe-Lane, a wrought Boat Shell Silver-hilted Sword, with a solid Handle.
1757 R. Washington Invoice 10 Nov. in G. Washington Papers (1988) V. 50 A fine strong Silver pierced, Boat Shell two edgd Sword Silver & gold gripe, spare & false Scabbard &ca.
1810 C. James New Mil. Dict. (ed. 3) at Sword It is mounted with a gilt hilt, called a boat-shell hilt.
1938 C. J. Ffoulkes & E. C. Hopkinson Sword, Lance & Bayonet 33 Three swords of different types were ordered for the 1st and 2nd Life Guards as follows: Full Dress. Pommel, urn-shaped;..guard, boat-shell, all gilt; blade straight.
2005 C. Mazansky Brit. Basket-hilted Swords x. 189/2 Robson uses the terms boatshell for the 1796 Pattern Heavy Cavalry Officer's hilt and double shell-guard for the 1796 Infantry Officer's hilt respectively.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1752