shellac
/ʃəˈlæk/
shellac noun: a processed secretion of the lac insect, Coccus lacca; used in polishes, varnishes etc.
Noun
shellac (countable and uncountable, plural shellacs)
- A processed secretion of the lac insect, Coccus lacca; used in polishes, varnishes etc.
- But, she says, a wartime ban on recordings using shellac and vinyl kept the Walker version from being released.2002 April 29, Norman Pearlstine, “A Month Of Mondays If that doesn't give you the blues, nothing will. Norman Pearlstine ranks his favorite versions of the classic "Stormy Monday Blues"--one for...
- At the turn of the century, the ever-expanding electrical industry was running low on shellac, a resin secreted by the female lac bug which could be used as an insulating material.2019 November 5, Alice Bell, “Can science break its plastic addiction?”, in CNN
- A beating; a thrashing.
Verb
shellac (third-person singular simple present shellacs, present participle shellacking, simple past and past participle shellacked)
- To coat with shellac.
- To beat; to thrash.
- To inflict a heavy defeat upon.
- In 1964 Goldwater ran rambunctiously, flat-out against government. He got shellacked.1987, George F. Will, The New Season: A Spectator's Guide to the 1988 Election, Simon and Schuster, page 21
- In another the Mets were shellacked, 9-1, with a stray ninth-inning home run by Strawberry after two outs, preventing a shutout.1987, Tim McCarver, Ray Robinson, Oh, Baby, I Love It!, Villard Books, page 220
shellac meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Odia and Indonesian
shellac in Hindi
- processed secretion of the lac insect
- चपड़ा capṛā
shellac in Tamil
- அரக்கு, அவலரக்கு, அரக்குச் சீவல், தட்டரக்கு, படுதோல்வியுறச் செய், பலமாக அடி
shellac in Odia
- shellac, shell-lac
- ଜଉ jau
shellac in Indonesian
- processed secretion of the lac insect
- sirlak
Synonyms of shellac
- E904 when used as a glazing agent
Forms of shellac
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | shellacs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | shellacs |
| present participle | shellacking |
| past participle | shellacked |
| past | shellacked |
Origin of shellac
From shell + lac, calque of French laque en écailles (literally “lac in scales/shells”).
Words formed from shellac
Words that rhyme with shellac
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- plaque
- whack
- slack
- Cadillac
- swack
- thwack
- pac
- shack
- bivouac
- cack
- clack
- gack
- lack
- smack
- unpack
- wrack
- aback
- flak
- hark back
- mack
- claque
- flack
- knack
- quack
- snack
- yak
- Aach
- ack
- gak
- mac
- Meshach
- multitrack
- plack
- snacc
- wack
- akh
- alack
- awrack
- brach
- cac
- Cayman Brac
- Chiraq
- cook back
- craic
- diclofenac
- dictionary attack
- dime back
- fac
Questions about shellac
- What does shellac mean?
- Shellac means a processed secretion of the lac insect, Coccus lacca; used in polishes, varnishes etc.
- What is shellac in Hindi?
- Shellac in Hindi is चपड़ा (capṛā). See Shellac meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is shellac?
- Shellac can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce shellac?
- Shellac is pronounced /ʃəˈlæk/.
- What is the plural of shellac?
- The plural of shellac is shellacs.
Words near shellac in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shellac (page history and authors); shellac (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ଜଉ (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-shellac.wav.
Cite this entry: “shellac.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shellac. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.