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shellacking

American  
[shuh-lak-ing] / ʃəˈlæk ɪŋ /

noun

Slang.

  1. an utter defeat.

    a shellacking their team will remember.

  2. a sound thrashing.

    His father gave him a shellacking for stealing the book.
shellacking British  
/ ˈʃɛlækɪŋ, ʃəˈlækɪŋ /

noun

  1. slang a complete defeat; a sound beating

    anyone who gives a shellacking to their bigger neighbours
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
shellacking Idioms  

  1. see take a shellacking.

Etymology

Origin of shellacking

First recorded in 1880–85; shellac + -ing 1

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.

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

It is the prospect of an almighty shellacking that prompts so many of the conversations about Sir Keir's future.

From BBC • Dec. 30, 2025

Then they marched into Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday afternoon and found themselves on the wrong end of a 28-7 shellacking by Georgia.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 7, 2025

And the Dodgers looked anything but rested and refreshed in Friday’s 11-4 shellacking by the Toronto Blue Jays, which left them trailing a postseason series for the first time since last fall’s NLDS.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 25, 2025

I, meanwhile, stayed home on Euclid Avenue, living upstairs from my mother as another leaden Chicago winter descended, shellacking the trees and sidewalks with ice.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

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.