[ad. L. concha bivalve shell, a. Gr. κόγχη mussel or cockle, shell-like cavity, etc. Cf. It. conca, Pr. conca, concha, Sp. and Pg. concha, F. conque (16th c.), formerly also conche. The earlier Eng. form was perh. conche, pl. conches, from Fr. In L. the name was extended to other shells, as a whelk, a snail-shell, the shell-shaped Triton’s trumpet, etc., and these senses passed into the modern langs.]
1. A shell-fish: originally a bivalve such as the mussel or oyster; in later times more frequently a large gastropod, esp. Strombus gigas.
[1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIII. xxvi. (1495), 464. Al that fysshe wyth the shelles ben callyd Conche and Conchillia.]
c. 1520. Andrew, Noble Lyfe, in Babees Bk., 232. As the mone growth or waneth, so be the conches or muscles fulle or nat full, but smale, & there be many sortes of conches or musclys, but the best be they that haue the perles in.
1707. Sloane, Jamaica, I. p. xvii. Turtle feed on conches or shell fish.
1750. G. Hughes, Barbadoes, 275. The conchs are often seen to feed upon them.
1782. P. H. Bruce, Mem., XII. 424. Their shell-fish are conques, perriwinkles, [etc.].
1835. Kirby, Hab. & Inst. Anim., I. ix. 296. Helmets, Rock-shells, Strombs, and other conchs.
2. The shell of a mollusk; esp. the spiral shell of any of the larger gastropods.
1774. J. Bryant, Mythol., I. 405. The conchs of the sea, which every strand afforded.
1775. White, in Phil. Trans., LXV. 263. The owner … furnished the bringer with a large shell or conch.
a. 1844. Campbell, Poems, View fr. St. Leonard’s, 94 The coral-groves—the shores of conch and pearl.
1863. Wynter, Subtle Brains, etc., 279. The domicile he [the Hermit Crab] generally prefers is the spiral conch of some defunct whelk.
3. Such a shell used as an instrument of call, as in Hindu temples and West Indian plantations. esp. That with which Roman Mythology provided the Tritons as a trumpet.
1764. Grainger, Sugar-Cane, IV. 161.
| But when the earth | |
| Hath made her annual progress round the sun, | |
| What time the conch or bell resounds, they may | |
| All to the Cane-ground, with thy gang, repair. |
1784. Cook’s Voy. (1790), VI. 1991. We heard conchs blowing in various parts of the coast.
1791. E. Darwin, Bot. Gard., I. 83. Emerging Tritons … Sound their loud conchs.
1828. W. Irving, Columbus (1849), III. 72. They brandished their weapons, sounded their conchs, and prepared to make battle.
1870. Dasent, Annals Eventful Life (ed. 4), I. vi. 63. It was a mingling of tom-toms and conches, huge shells which, when properly played by Tritons, may be very melodious, but which, with a negro’s breath in them, utter a most unearthly sound.
1873. Symonds, Grk. Poets, x. 336. Tritons … sounding a marriage song on their long-winding conchs.
4. An ancient Roman vessel [L. concha], used for oil, salt, etc. Also fig.
1839. Landor, Giovanna, I. i. Wks. 1846, II. 548.
| ‘Impatient is the singer there,’ said she, | |
| ‘To run thro’ his delight, to fill the conch | |
| Of song up to the brim. |
1860. T. Martin, Horace, 75.
| Let rich ointments flow | |
| From amplest conchs! |
5. Archit. The domed roof of a semicircular apse; also, the apse as a whole.
1849. Freeman, Archit., 176. There are no smaller cupolas or conchs.
1855. Milman, Lat. Chr. (1864), IX. XIV. viii. 278. The space between the end of the Nave and the conch or apse.
1861. Beresf. Hope, Eng. Cathedr. 19th C., v. 154. The conch of the apse displayed the gigantic … effigy of the Saviour in judgment.
1864. in Webster.
6. Anat. The external ear; = CONCHA 4 a.
1836. Todd, Cycl. Anat., I. 598/2. In most of the insectivorous Bats the conch of the ear is enormously large.
1847. Youatt, Horse, vi. 122. This cartilage, the conch or shell, is attached to the head by ligaments.
7. A local nickname for the lower class of inhabitants of the Bahamas, the Florida Keys, etc., from their extensive use of conchs as food. (Also written conk.)
8. Comb. conch-shell = sense 2, 3; also conch-trumpet; conch-like adj., etc.
1697. Dampier, Voy. (1698), I. vii. 168. They [hogs] feed in the woods in the day time, and at night come in at the sounding of a Conch-shell.
1707. Sloane, Jamaica, I. p. xvii. The swine come home every evening … on the third sound of a conch shell.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Grateful Negro, Wks. (1832), V. 240. He was glad when the conch-shell sounded to call the negroes to their daily labour, that he might relieve the sensations of his soul by bodily exertion.
1878. J. Buller, 40 Years in New Zeal., I. viii. 61. The large conch shell, which was their war trumpet.
1885. Lady Brassey, The Trades, 303. They gave me some fine ‘king,’ ‘queen,’ and ‘common’ conch shells.
1864. Engel, Mus. Anc. Nat., 78. The conch-trumpet, called in Hindoostan sankh—an instrument … of high antiquity.
1865. Ecclesiologist, Feb., 9. The apse with its conch-like roof.
