- 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.
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
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
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
Those who predicted a shellacking on the pitch and a visceral uprising in the stands were proven wrong.
From BBC • Aug. 31, 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.
