Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Anatomy Any of various structures, such as the external ear, that resemble a shell in shape.
  • noun Architecture The half dome over an apse.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as conch, 10.
  • noun The thin, translucent shell of a bivalve mollusk, sometimes used for window-panes in the East Indies.
  • noun In anatomy and zoology: The outer ear; the pinna of the ear; the auricle; especially, the shell of the ear, the hollowed part within the antihelix, leading into the meatus. See cut under car.
  • noun A shell of bone, or a bone like a shell; a turbinated bone.
  • noun Same as couch, 6.
  • noun [ML., ⟩ OF. conque.] An old dry measure of Gascony and Navarre, about 5 pecks, Winchester measure.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Arch.) The plain semidome of an apse; sometimes used for the entire apse.
  • noun (Anat.) The external ear; esp. the largest and deepest concavity of the external ear, surrounding the entrance to the auditory canal.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any shell-shaped structure.
  • noun anatomy The deepest indentation of the cartilage of the human ear, attaching to the mastoid bone.
  • noun architecture An apse, or the plain semidome of an apse.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (anatomy) a structure that resembles a shell in shape

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin, semidome, from Latin, mussel shell; see conch.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Late Latin concha

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Examples

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  • A Mexican sweet bread product imprinted with shell-like pattern, hence "concha," which is Spanish for "shell"

    October 6, 2010