The Collaborative International Dictionary
Shrapnel \Shrap"nel\, a. Applied as an appellation to a kind of shell invented by Gen. H. Shrapnel of the British army. -- n. A shrapnel shell; shrapnel shells, collectively.
Shrapnel shell (Gunnery), a projectile for a cannon, consisting of a shell filled with bullets and a small bursting charge to scatter them at any given point while in flight. See the Note under Case shot.
Wikipedia
Animation of a bursting shrapnel shell
]] [[ Burst Diagram English.jpg|thumb|right|
Bursting action
]] Shrapnel shells were anti-personnel artillery munitions which carried a large number of individual bullets close to the target and then ejected them to allow them to continue along the shell's trajectory and strike the target individually. They relied almost entirely on the shell's velocity for their lethality. The munition has been obsolete since the end of World War I for anti-personnel use, when it was superseded by high-explosive shells for that role. The functioning and principles behind Shrapnel shells are fundamentally different from high-explosive shell fragmentation. Shrapnel is named after Major-General Henry Shrapnel (1761–1842), a British artillery officer, whose experiments, initially conducted in his own time and at his own expense, culminated in the design and development of a new type of artillery shell.
Usage examples of "shrapnel shell".
He opened his mouth to shout his warcry, and at that moment a shrapnel shell, fired from one of the guns near the north edge of the field, burst beneath the Sopwith.
This was a shrapnel shell used by the Austrians in the mountains with a nose-cap which went on after the burst and exploded on contact.
The goose's spread wings spun like the spokes of a wheel, and a burst of black feathers filled the air as though a shrapnel shell had been fired from a heavy cannon.
Very soon thereafter, they were provided with a new and specially Krupp-designed cannon, the first ever capable of being cranked almost to the vertical, and firing a Shrapnel shell that could be time-fused, in theory anyway, to explode at a predetermined altitude.
I have been thinking a great deal lately that some kind of shrapnel shell or explosive bomb would be a most splendid innovation in their warfare.
When it was boarded, after very careful remote scrutiny, it was found that it had been carrying considerable explosive material, surrounded by scrap metal to make it a giant shrapnel shell.
Lots of difference between a three-inch shrapnel shell and a six- or eight-incher with an armor-piercing tip.