shelly

comparative shellier · superlative shelliest

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)

   1 more example

   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

   1 more example

   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.

   a shelly beach

   1 more example

   the snail, whose tender horns being hit Shrinks backward in his shelly cave.

   1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC

plural Shellys · plural Shellies

1. A surname from Old English, variant of Shelley.
2. A male given name transferred from the surname, of mostly pre-1930 usage.
3. A female given name transferred from the surname, of 1930s and later usage, variant of Shelley.