shell
noun
a hard outer covering of an animal, as the hard case of a mollusk, or either half of the case of a bivalve mollusk.
were shelling
-
past progressiveof shell.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Car dealers noted that fewer people were shelling out for electric vehicles after federal tax subsidies expired.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 26, 2025
In California, the priciest market, shoppers were shelling out an average of $7.37 for a dozen Grade A large eggs, roughly three times the cost from a year earlier.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 10, 2023
Those 4000-plus buyers thought they were shelling out for a squeaky-clean sedan, not a nitrogen-oxide spewing machine.
From Time ● Sep. 22, 2015
County drivers on average were shelling out $4.016 a gallon Friday, 18 cents higher than a week earlier, according to GasBuddy.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2015
There had never been an air raid in Port Harcourt and it made no sense that there would be one now, when Port Harcourt was about to fall and the vandals were shelling close by.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
