Shelly
//ˈʃɛli// adj, name
adj, name ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Composed of the shells of dead marine creatures
"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."
- 2 Resembling, or comprising, the shell of a mollusc
"Shrined are your offspring in a chrystal cradle, / Brighter than Helen's ere she yet had burst / Her shelly prison."
- 3 Abounding with shells.
"a shelly beach"
Proper Noun
- 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.
Example
More examples"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."
Etymology
From shell + -y.
More for "shelly"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.