- present participle of shellac.
shellacking
Americannoun
-
an utter defeat.
a shellacking their team will remember.
-
a sound thrashing.
His father gave him a shellacking for stealing the book.
noun
Etymology
Origin of shellacking
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Around the same time, England were getting their quadrennial shellacking in Australia.
From BBC • Jun. 4, 2026
Trade-driven gains for industries such as textiles or jewelry are more than offset, markets-wise, by the shellacking India’s IT outsourcers are taking from the global software selloff.
From Barron's • Feb. 19, 2026
North Carolina’s season began on Labor Day with a 48-14 shellacking by TCU in prime time.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 7, 2025
Then, in early 1983, six months out from what was expected to be another shellacking in the US, Jacklin was asked to captain the side.
From BBC • Sep. 23, 2025
She had to lay down various layers, like shellacking a Stradivarius.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
