conch n DBE conch-shell 'used as a signal' (1978).
   1 [(1847) 1982 [ROUSE] (ed Street) 128 The men of this place (Romanists and Protestants) to the number of from 60 to 70, assembled at the sound of the horn (a shell) and the firing of guns.] [1859] 1987 Nfld Qtly lxxxiii (2), 44-5 Children were usually called to school by the raising of a flag or by a bell, though Inspector Haddon records one instance where 'on the morning of my arrival the children were summoned to school by the sound of a conch..a cheap substitute for a flag or a bell.' 1984 KELLAND 181 In addition, the dories carried a conche shell (shell of a mollusk which produced a loud booming sound when a fisherman blew into it).

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