Definition of "gourd-shell" [gourd-shell]

• The rind of a gourd, especially one used as a vessel. See gourd, 2. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "He rode the Arab slanting through the water, to where an old woman, sitting in her own silence and almost invisible before, was squatted in the water with brown bare shoulders emerging, ladling water from a half gourd-shell over her matted grey head."
• "This is called "dillock," and is made in quantities at a time, being preserved in a large gourd-shell, generally suspended from the roof."
• "At one time I thought of a gourd-shell, but there was not one _dried_ in the town; so they told me."