shellac
shellac Lexical Profile
shellac Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A purified resinous secretion produced by the lac insect, processed into thin flakes and dissolved in alcohol to make liquid protective coatings, wood finishes, and glazes.
"The carpenter applied two coats of amber shellac to bring out the warm grain of the antique oak table."
An early type of phonograph record made from a brittle shellac compound, typically played at 78 revolutions per minute before the introduction of vinyl.
"The archive preserves hundreds of early jazz recordings pressed on fragile 10-inch shellacs."
• verb
To coat, varnish, or treat a surface with shellac.
"After sanding the floorboards smooth, they shellacked the entire room and left it to dry overnight."
North American To defeat decisively or overwhelmingly in a game, contest, or election (informal).
"The visiting baseball team got shellacked by ten runs in the opening game of the series."
Word Nuance & Usage
When inflected as a verb, a 'k' is inserted before vowel suffixes to preserve the hard /k/ sound (shellacked, shellacking).
• Rhymes for shellac
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the early 18th century as a compound of 'shell' and 'lac', translating the French 'laque en écailles' ('lac in thin plates'). 'Lac' derives via Hindi and Persian from Sanskrit 'lākṣā', referring to the resinous secretion of the lac insect.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.