Dictionary

shelly en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈʃɛli/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From shell + -y.

Meanings

1. Composed of the shells of dead marine creatures
   • the shelly shore 1718, 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):
   • 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:
2. Resembling, or comprising, the shell of a mollusc
   • 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:
   • 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:
3. Abounding with shells.
   • the snail, whose tender horns being hit Shrinks backward in his shelly cave. 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC:
   • a shelly beach

Forms

Deriveds

shellycoat · shelliness