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The meaning and origin of the expression: A word in your shell-like

A word in your shell-like

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What's the meaning of the phrase 'A word in your shell-like'?

I would like to talk to you.

What's the origin of the phrase 'A word in your shell-like'?

A word in your shell-like'Shell-like' has been used to mean a person's ear since the late 19th century. Clearly this refers to the ear's shape.

The earliest citation of the words in that context that I can find is Thomas Hood's romantic poem Bianca's Dream, 1827:

This, with more tender logic of the kind,
He pour'd into her small and shell-like ear,
That timidly against his lips inclin'd;
Meanwhile her eyes glanced on the silver sphere
That even now began to steal behind
A dewy vapour, which was lingering near,
Wherein the dull moon crept all dim and pale,
Just like a virgin putting on the veil.

Despite Hood's rather syrupy effort the phrase failed to catch the public imagination and didn't appear again in print for some years. The next citation I can find is in an example of romantic fiction from the USA, in what sounds like pre-bodice-ripper style, from a perhaps unlikely source - the Mckean County Miner, Smethport, Pennsylvania, February 1878:

"Without a word he clasped Miss Patterson in his arms. 'My darling!' was all he said. She struggled to free herself, strongly at first: but as he whispered something in the crimson shell-like ear close to his trembling lips, the pretty head sank upon his shoulder..."

Gary Martin - the author of the phrases.org.uk website.

By Gary Martin

Gary Martin is a writer and researcher on the origins of phrases and the creator of the Phrase Finder website. Over the past 26 years more than 700 million of his pages have been downloaded by readers. He is one of the most popular and trusted sources of information on phrases and idioms.

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