3. Easily shaken; tottering; unsound; as, a shaky constitution; shaky
business credit. [Colloq.]
Shale (?), n. [AS. scealy, scalu. See Scalme, and cf. Shell.] 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.
Bituminous shale. See under Bituminous.
Shale, v. t. 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.