- shellac (n.)
- also shell lac, 1713, from shell (n.) + lac. Translates French laque en écailles "lac in thin plates." Commercially, lac was considered as stick lac (still on the twigs, insects and all), seed-lac (resin without the twigs and insects, partly processed), and fully processed plates of shell lac.
- shellac (v.)
- 1876, from shellac (n.). The slang sense of "beat soundly" is 1920s, perhaps from the notion of shellac as a "finish." Shellacked "drunk" is from 1922 (compare plastered). Related: Shellacking.
