'Purple shell' definitions:

Definition of 'Purple shell'

From: GCIDE
  • Purple \Pur"ple\, a.
  • 1. Exhibiting or possessing the color called purple, much esteemed for its richness and beauty; of a deep red, or red and blue color; as, a purple robe. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Imperial; regal; -- so called from the color having been an emblem of imperial authority. [1913 Webster]
  • Hide in the dust thy purple pride. --Shelley. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Blood-red; bloody. [1913 Webster]
  • May such purple tears be alway shed. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • I view a field of blood, And Tiber rolling with a purple blood. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • Purple bird (Zool.), the European purple gallinule. See under Gallinule.
  • Purple copper ore. (Min.) See Bornite.
  • Purple grackle (Zool.), the crow blackbird. See under Crow.
  • Purple martin. See under Martin.
  • Purple sandpiper. See under Sandpiper.
  • Purple shell. See Ianthina. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'purple shell'

From: GCIDE
  • Ianthina \I*an"thi*na\, n.; pl. L. Ianthin[ae], E. Ianthinas. [NL., fr. L. ianthinus violet-blue, Gr. ?; ? violet + ? flower.] (Zool.) Any gastropod of the genus Ianthina, of which various species are found living in mid ocean; -- called also {purple shell}, and violet snail. [Written also janthina.] [1913 Webster]
  • Note: It floats at the surface by means of a raft, which it constructs by forming and uniting together air bubbles of hardened mucus. The Tyrian purple of the ancients was obtained in part from mollusks of this genus. [1913 Webster]