shellfire

[ shel-fahyuhr ]

/ ˈʃɛlˌfaɪər /

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noun Military.

the firing of explosive shells or projectiles.

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Origin of shellfire

First recorded in 1855–60; shell + fire

Words nearby shellfire

shelled, sheller, Shelley, Shelleyan, Shelley, Percy Bysshe, shellfire, shellfish, shellfishery, shellflower, shell game, shell gland

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use shellfire in a sentence

That was before they knew the exact meaning of shellfire well.
The New York Times Current History of the European War, Vol 1, Issue 4, January 23, 1915|Various
These men had already seen what shellfire could do to knock the beauty out of old houses and quiet streets.
Now It Can Be Told|Philip Gibbs
They had been employed cutting trees, and had been under our own shellfire.
Current History, Vol. VIII, No. 3, June 1918|Various
The railways were choked with military transport or destroyed by shellfire.
Current History, Vol. VIII, No. 3, June 1918|Various

Shellfire was being concentrated on the airstrips, striving to block them, plow them up with craters.
World of the Drone|Robert Abernathy

British Dictionary definitions for shellfire

shellfire

/ (ˈʃɛlˌfaɪə) /

noun

the firing of artillery shells

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