shellacking
shellacking Lexical Profile
shellacking Game Scores & Validity
• noun
North American A decisive defeat, severe criticism, or thorough beating (especially in sports or politics).
"The incumbent party took a historic shellacking in the midterm elections."
The act or process of coating or finishing a surface with shellac.
"The antique oak desk required a careful sanding and a fresh shellacking to restore its luster."
Word Nuance & Usage
When forming the gerund or inflected forms of the verb 'shellac', a 'k' is added before the suffix ('shellacking', 'shellacked') to preserve the hard /k/ sound at the end of the root.
• Rhymes for shellacking
Word Origin & Etymology
Derived from the verb 'shellac' plus the suffix '-ing'; the informal sense of a decisive defeat emerged in 1920s American slang, likely comparing a thorough beating to covering something completely with a coat of varnish.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.