D defs.my
Entry 3 senses · 2 variants Webster, 1913

Shale

/shāl/ · IPA /ʃeɪl/
01 n. A shell or husk; a cod or pod.
  1. 1.
    A shell or husk; a cod or pod.
  2. 2.
    A fine-grained sedimentary rock of a thin, laminated, and often friable, structure.(Geol.)
Phrases & compounds
Bituminous shale — See under Bituminous.
02 v. t. To take off the shell or coat of; to shell.
  1. 1.
    To take off the shell or coat of; to shell.
    “Life, in its upper grades, was bursting its shell, or was shaling off its husk.” I. Taylor.