noun An anti-personnel artillery shell used in World War I which carries a large number of individual bullets or balls close to the target and then ejects them to allow them to continue along the shell's trajectory and strike the target individually.
noun The bullets or balls from the aforementioned type of artillery shell.
noun Any shot, fragments, or debris thrown out by an exploding shell, bomb, or landmine.
noun Debris.
The dog ate my sandwich, and there was shrapnel all over the place from him tearing open the bag.