Zoology A hard bony or chitinous outer covering, such as the fused dorsal plates of a turtle or the portion of the exoskeleton covering the head and thorax of a crustacean.
A protective, shell-like covering likened to that of a turtle or crustacean:
"He used to worry that Sarah would age the same way, develop the same brittle carapace"
(Anne Tyler).
(k
r
-p
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