Shale \Shale\, n. [AS. scealy, scalu. See Scalme, and cf.
   Shell.]
   1. A shell or husk; a cod or pod. "The green shales of a
      bean." --Chapman.
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   2. [G. shale.] (Geol.) A fine-grained sedimentary rock of a
      thin, laminated, and often friable, structure.
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   Bituminous shale. See under Bituminous.
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	Shale \Shale\, v. t.
   To take off the shell or coat of; to shell.
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         Life, in its upper grades, was bursting its shell, or
         was shaling off its husk.                --I. Taylor.
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	shale
    n 1: a sedimentary rock formed by the deposition of successive
         layers of clay