[a. L. exuviæ garments stripped off, skins of animals, the spoils of an enemy, f. exuĕre to divest oneself of.] Cast skins, shells, or coverings of animals; any parts of animals that are shed or cast off, whether recent or fossil.
1670. Boyle, Contn. New Exp., iv. Wks. 1772, III. 378. They [insects] divested the habit they had … and appeared with their exuviæ or cast coats under their feet.
a. 1728. Woodward, Catal. For. Fossils, II. (1729), 21, in Nat. Hist. Fossils. They appear to be only the Skins or Exuviæ [printed Exuvia], rather than entire Bodies of Fishes.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 184. Fossils and other marine exuviæ which are found imbedded on the tops of mountains.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol. (1828), III. xxxii. 290. The insect has quitted the exuviæ of the pupa.
1830. Lyell, Princ. Geol., I. 23. Living animals … had formerly lived and multiplied, where their exuviæ are now found.
1851. Richardson, Geol., 393. Sea-weeds, sponges, corals, shells, and the other marine exuviæ found in the chalk.
b. transf. and fig.
1653. H. More, Antid. Ath., III. xvi. (1712), 138. The Exuviæ of Fiddles, it seems, fly up into the air.
1811. Lamb, Burial Societies, Wks. (1876), 629. The departed Spirit is gone. His care is only about the exuviæ.
1821. Knox, Spir. Despot., xxix. 66. Lest the despotism of influence should destroy the vitals of a free constitution, and leave nothing behind but the form, the exuviæ, the name.
1851. D. Wilson, Preh. Ann. (1863), I. II. vi. 439. Curious exuviæ of early art.
