shellac

English

Etymology

From shell +‎ lac, calque of French laque en écailles (literally “lac in scales/shells”). This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. Particularly: “Origin of informal senses needed.”

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃəˈlæk/, /ʃɛˈlæk/, /ˈʃɛlæk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æk

Noun

shellac (countable and uncountable, plural shellacs)

1. A processed secretion of the lac insect, Coccus lacca; used in polishes, varnishes etc.
   • 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 every doggone working day of the month.”, in CNN Money‎^[1], archived from the original on 8 February 2022:

     But, she says, a wartime ban on recordings using shellac and vinyl kept the Walker version from being released.

   • 2019 November 5, Alice Bell, “Can science break its plastic addiction?”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     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.

2. (informal, US) A beating; a thrashing.

Synonyms

• E904 when used as a glazing agent.

Derived terms

• shellacker

Translations

processed secretion of the lac insect

• Armenian: դոճախեժ (hy) (dočaxež), շելլակ (hy) (šellak)
• Bulgarian: шеллак m (šellak)
• Catalan: goma laca (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 虫胶 (zh) (chóng jiāo), 紫膠 / 紫胶 (zh) (zǐjiāo)

• Dutch: schellak (nl) m or n
• Esperanto: ŝelako
• Finnish: sellakka (fi)
• French: gomme-laque (fr) f
• German: Schellack (de) m
• Greek: γομαλάκα (el) f (gomaláka), σελάκη f (seláki)
• Hindi: चपड़ा (hi) (capṛā)
• Hungarian: sellak (hu)
• Indonesian: sirlak (id)
• Italian: gommalacca (it) f
• Japanese: シェラック (ja) (sherakku)
• Polish: szelak (pl) m, gumilaka f
• Portuguese: goma-laca (pt) f
• Romanian: șelac (ro) n
• Russian: шелла́к (ru) m (šellák), гуммила́к (ru) m (gummilák)
• Spanish: goma laca f
• Swedish: schellack (sv) c
• Turkish: şellak

  Ottoman Turkish: غومالاقه (gomalaka), غومالاق (gomalak)

Verb

shellac (third-person singular simple present shellacs, present participle shellacking, simple past and past participle shellacked)

1. (transitive) To coat with shellac.
2. (informal, US, transitive) To beat; to thrash.
3. (informal, US, transitive) To inflict a heavy defeat upon.
   • 1987, George F. Will, The New Season: A Spectator's Guide to the 1988 Election, Simon and Schuster, page 21:

     In 1964 Goldwater ran rambunctiously, flat-out against government. He got shellacked.

   • 1987, Tim McCarver, Ray Robinson, Oh, Baby, I Love It!, Villard Books, page 220:

     In another the Mets were shellacked, 9-1, with a stray ninth-inning home run by Strawberry after two outs, preventing a shutout.

   • 2026 June 18, Claudia Grisales, “They're leaving Congress with nothing to lose, spelling potential trouble for Trump”, in National Public Radio, Washington, D.C.: National Public Radio:

     [Former Arizona GOP Senator Jeff Flake] warns Republicans could be on track for a shellacking in the midterms[.]

     (Can we archive this URL?)

Derived terms

• unshellacked

Translations

to coat with shellac

• Bulgarian: лакирам (bg) (lakiram) (hypernym)
• Dutch: lakken (nl)
• Finnish: lakata (fi)
• French: laquer (fr)
• German: lackieren (de)
• Italian: laccare (it)
• Spanish: lacar (es), laquear (es)

to inflict a heavy defeat upon

• Bulgarian: сразявам (bg) impf (srazjavam), сразя pf (srazja)
• Finnish: murskata (fi)
• Latin: dēvincō
• Russian: побежда́ть (ru) n or impf (pobeždátʹ)