shale Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a sedimentary rock formed by the deposition of successive layers of clay

WordNet

Shale noun
Etymology
AS. scealy, scalu. See Scalme, and cf. Shell.
Definitions
  1. A shell or husk; a cod or pod. "The green shales of a bean." Chapman.
  2. G. shale. (Geol.) A fine-grained sedimentary rock of a thin, laminated, and often friable, structure.
Shale transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To take off the shell or coat of; to shell.
    Life, in its upper grades, was bursting its shell, or was shaling off its husk. I. Taylor.

Webster 1913