carapace

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a hard protective shell covering all or part of the back of an animal such as a turtle, crab, or barnacle

   The crab withdrew its legs beneath its rigid carapace.

2. 2
   noun

   a hard or defensive outer covering, especially one that conceals vulnerability

   His formal manner was a carapace that kept strangers at a distance.

Borrowed in the nineteenth century from French carapace, from Spanish carapacho, 'shell.' The earlier Iberian source is uncertain. Zoology applied it to the hard dorsal covering of turtles, crustaceans, and other animals; figurative use compares emotional reserve to protective armor.

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