hard-shell

(härd′shĕl′)

A hard-shell clam or hard-shell crab.

adj. also hard-shelled (-shĕld′)

1. Having a thick, heavy, or hardened shell.

2. Uncompromising; confirmed.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.

hard-shelled - of animals or plants that have a hard shell

shelled - of animals or fruits that have a shell

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

The other members of the tribe now took up the bombardment, using such hard-shelled fruits and dead branches as came within their reach, until Sheeta, goaded to frenzy and snapping at the grass rope, finally succeeded in severing its strands.

View in context

The loggerhead is the largest hard-shelled sea turtle in the world.

Saving the loggerhead sea turtle

Previous data collected elsewhere in Europe and Turkey suggested that the great ape's diet evolved from hard-shelled fruits and seeds to leaves, but these findings only contained samples from the early-Middle and Late Miocene, while lack data from the epoch of highest diversity of hominoids in Western Europe.

Tooth samples of ape ancestors provide clues to their diet and environment

Their research, published in the journal Animal Cognition, looked at whether chimpanzees socially acquire their natural food preparation skills, known as "extractive foraging" (such as opening hard-shelled fruit) from within their communities.

MASTER CHIMPS

hard-shelled exterior that only gives way and melts.

Patron Saint of the Convenience Store

Few lobster lovers are ever disappointed in winter or spring because all lobsters then are hard-shelled and packed with meat.

Get cracking with lobsters

The team found that eating hard-shelled prey, such as the trilobites that were ubiquitous at the time, would have fractured the critter's mouth plates, James Hagadorn of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science reported November 1.

Fossil fangs not so fierce

These beautiful animals spend more time in the water than almost any other lizard species, and have a unique diet consisting primarily of hard-shelled river snails, clams, and crawfish.

Shedd's Caiman lizards hatch a North American first

That's because sea otters feast on sea urchins, a spiny, hard-shelled animal that eats away at the thick patches of kelp.

Ocean keepers: California's sea otters are mysteriously dying in record numbers. How could their decline affect other ocean life?

When creating art with hard-shelled gourds, an artist can use two-dimensional techniques while working three-dimensionally to produce unique designs.

Bottle gourd birdhouses: high school