shelly
/ˈʃɛli/
shelly adjective: composed of the shells of dead marine creatures.
Adjective
shelly (comparative shellier, superlative shelliest)
- Composed of the shells of dead marine creatures
- After all, we live today in an unusual world: sea level is low, the continents are dispersed, ice occupies the poles, and the shelly fauna of the oceans is composed largely of aragonite rather than calcite.2000 June 16, Karl W. Flessa, “Learning from the Dead”, in Science, volume 288, number 5473, →DOI, pages 1971–1972
- the shelly shore1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)
- Resembling, or comprising, the shell of a mollusc
- Shrined are your offspring in a chrystal cradle, / Brighter than Helen's ere she yet had burst / Her shelly prison.1818, Charles Lamb, “On the Sight of Swans in Kensington Garden”, in The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb
- It is seen commonly in connection with flat-foot, and where the horn of the wall is thin and shelly.1906, Harry Caulton Reeks, Diseases of the Horse's Foot
- Abounding with shells.
- a shelly beach
- the snail, whose tender horns being hit
Shrinks backward in his shelly cave.1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC
Proper noun capitalized: Shelly
Shelly
- A surname from Old English, variant of Shelley.
- A male given name transferred from the surname, of mostly pre-1930 usage.
- A female given name transferred from the surname, of 1930s and later usage, variant of Shelley.
shelly meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
shelly in Hindi
- शेली
shelly in Tamil
- ஓடான
shelly in Marathi
- शेली
shelly in Urdu
- شیلی, شیلّی
More languagesFewer languages
- shelly in Bengali
- শেলি, শেলী
- shelly in Telugu
- షెల్లి
- shelly in Malayalam
- ഷെല്ലി
- shelly in Kannada
- ಶೆಲ್ಲಿ
- shelly in Punjabi
- ਸ਼ੇਲੀ
- shelly in Gujarati
- શેલી
- shelly in Odia
- ଶେଲୀ, ଶେଲି
- shelly in Nepali
- शेली, शेल्ली
Forms of shelly
| comparative | shellier |
|---|---|
| superlative | shelliest |
Origin of shelly
From shell + -y.
Words formed from shelly
Phrases with shelly
Words that rhyme with shelly
15 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about shelly
- What does shelly mean?
- Shelly means composed of the shells of dead marine creatures.
- What is shelly in Hindi?
- Shelly in Hindi is शेली. See Shelly meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is shelly?
- Shelly can be an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce shelly?
- Shelly is pronounced /ˈʃɛli/.
Words near shelly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shelly (page history and authors); Shelly (page history and authors); shelly (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shelly (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); shelly (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shelly (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shelly (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shelly (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shelly (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shelly (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shelly (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shelly (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shelly (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shelly (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-shelly.wav.
Cite this entry: “shelly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shelly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.