Meaning

• An anti-personnel artillery shell used in WWI which carries a large number of individual bullets close to the target and then ejects them to allow them to continue along the shell's trajectory and strike the target individually.

• A collective term for shot, fragments, or debris thrown out by an exploding shell, bomb or landmine.

• Loose change.

• Debris.

  "The dog ate my sandwich, and there was shrapnel all over the place from him tearing open the bag."