shell company

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noun commerce

a near-defunct company, esp one with a stock-exchange listing, used as a vehicle for a thriving company

a company that has ceased to trade but retains its registration and is sold for a small sum to enable its new owners to avoid the cost and trouble of registering a new company

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Words nearby shell company

shellac, shellacking, shellback, shellbark, shell bean, shell company, shellcracker, shelled, sheller, Shelley, Shelleyan

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use shell company in a sentence

Through his company, consumers will be able to cheaply make custom DNA strands, including what Heinz calls “creatures.”
Design Your Own Dinosaur: The Era of Custom DNA|Justin Jones|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
“The cyber attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment was not just an attack against a company and its employees,” he said.
Politicians Only Love Journalists When They're Dead|Luke O’Neil|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Tinder and OkCupid are both owned by IAC, the parent company of The Daily Beast.
My Week on Jewish Tinder|Emily Shire|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Reprinted by arrangement with The Penguin Press, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin Random House Company.
Thank Congress, Not LBJ for Great Society|Julian Zelizer, Scott Porch|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST

They were the machine gun bullets coming from the ambush when my company got hit.
The Story Behind Lee Marvin’s Liberty Valance Smile|Robert Ward|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
As company after company appeared, we were able to form a pretty exact estimate of their numbers.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
Off flew the shell, seven miles it flew; over the Turkish Army from one sea into another.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I|Ian Hamilton
No, Sir, said the other, nothing at all except the enjoyment of your good company: and so gave over importuning him.
The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner (1801)|Daniel Defoe
He conducts this ceremony with the greatest solemnity, occasionally pronouncing these incantatory words, "Plate or shell, sah?"
Physiology of The Opera|John H. Swaby (AKA "Scrici")
Fancy that enormous shell dropping suddenly out of the blue on to a ship's deck swarming with troops!
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I|Ian Hamilton