2 (U.S. history) the war fought from 1861 to 1865 between the North and the South, sparked off by Lincoln's election as president but with deep-rooted political and economic causes, exacerbated by the slavery issue.
A barrage is a term used to describe extensive artillery fire against enemy positions. Barrages were classified as light, moderate or heavy. A light barrage amounted to six or seven shells every ten minutes. A moderate barrage was thirty shells a minute and a heavy one, fifty to sixty shells a minute.
1560s, to remove (a nut, etc.) from a shell, from shell (n.). The meaning to bombard with shells is first attested 1856. To shell out disburse (1801) is a figurative use from the image of extracting nuts. Related: Shelled; shelling.