pear shell

1 definition found

pear shell - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Pear \Pear\ (p[^a]r), n. [OE. pere, AS. peru, L. pirum: cf. F.
     poire. Cf. Perry.] (Bot.)
     The fleshy pome, or fruit, of a rosaceous tree (Pyrus communis
     ), cultivated in many varieties in temperate
     climates; also, the tree which bears this fruit. See Pear family
     , below.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Pear blight.
     (a) (Bot.) A name of two distinct diseases of pear trees,
         both causing a destruction of the branches, viz., that
         caused by a minute insect (Xyleborus pyri), and that
         caused by the freezing of the sap in winter. --A. J.
         Downing.
     (b) (Zool.) A very small beetle (Xyleborus pyri) whose
         larv[ae] bore in the twigs of pear trees and cause them
         to wither.
  
     Pear family (Bot.), a suborder of rosaceous plants
        (Pome[ae]), characterized by the calyx tube becoming
        fleshy in fruit, and, combined with the ovaries, forming a
        pome. It includes the apple, pear, quince, service berry,
        and hawthorn.
  
     Pear gauge (Physics), a kind of gauge for measuring the
        exhaustion of an air-pump receiver; -- so called because
        consisting in part of a pear-shaped glass vessel.
  
     Pear shell (Zool.), any marine gastropod shell of the genus
        Pyrula, native of tropical seas; -- so called from the
        shape.
  
     Pear slug (Zool.), the larva of a sawfly which is very
        injurious to the foliage of the pear tree.
        [1913 Webster]
        [1913 Webster]