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a bony or chitinous shield, test, or shell covering some or all of the dorsal part of an animal, as of a turtle.
Contemporary Examples

Ian McEwan: Well, I think one way… I think you have to develop a carapace of boringness.
Hanging Out with Ian McEwan: Full Transcript The Daily Beast Video April 13, 2010

It encases their loserdom in a carapace of purity and righteousness.
The GOP’s Leading Crank Michael Tomasky August 29, 2011

I walked back to my desk, keeping the satisfaction locked tight within a carapace of steely unconcern, and took in the scene.
Wall Street Bonuses Tumble, But Bankers Have Nowhere to Go Aaron Timms March 1, 2012

Greater awareness of that would soften their carapace of greed.
How Bankers Screwed Up Their PR Adam Hanft February 6, 2009

Historical Examples

It is also found on the carapace of crabs and Limulus, and on mollusks.
The Sea-beach at Ebb-tide Augusta Foote Arnold

At least three segments of the trunk are left uncovered by the carapace.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 17, Slice 4 Various

Occasionally we were offered the carapace of a large turtle in lieu of a chair.
Up the Orinoco and down the Magdalena H. J. Mozans

The last four or five segments of the trunk are free from the carapace.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 17, Slice 4 Various

The boys shouted repeatedly to warn Congo; though no reply came from the hollow interior of the carapace.
The Young Yagers Mayne Reid

The Monosphrida comprise all those Sphroidea in which the carapace is represented only by one single lattice-shell.
Report on the Radiolaria Collected by H.M.S. Challenger During the Years 1873-1876, First Part: Porulosa (Spumellaria and Acantharia) Ernst Haeckel

noun
the thick hard shield, made of chitin or bone, that covers part of the body of crabs, lobsters, tortoises, etc
n.

1836, from French carapace “tortoise shell” (18c.), from Spanish carapacho or Portuguese carapaça, of uncertain origin, perhaps somehow from Latin capa (see cape (n.1)).
carapace
(kār’ə-pās’)
A hard outer covering or shell made of bone or chitin on the back of animals such as turtles, armadillos, lobsters, and crabs.