shellac

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A purified lac in the form of thin yellow or orange flakes, often bleached white and widely used in varnishes, paints, inks, sealants, and formerly in phonograph records.
• noun A thin varnish made by dissolving this substance in denatured alcohol, used to finish wood.
• noun An old phonograph record containing this substance, typically played at 78 rpm.
• transitive verb To coat or finish with shellac.
• transitive verb To strike repeatedly and severely; batter.
• transitive verb To defeat decisively.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To coat with shellac.
• noun Seed-lac melted and formed into thin plates. This is the form in which it is generally sold for making varnish and the like. See lac.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun Lac which has been reduced to a thin crust. See the Note under 2d lac.
• noun A solution of shellac{1} in alcohol or other volatile solvent, used as a varnish.
• noun Obsolescent A phonograph record, made of a material containing shellac; -- no longer manufactured.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A processed secretion of the lac insect, Coccus lacca; used in polishes, varnishes etc.
• verb To coat something with shellac.
• verb informal, US To inflict a heavy defeat; to drub; to batter. Used primarily in sports and political contexts.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb cover with shellac
• noun lac purified by heating and filtering; usually in thin orange or yellow flakes but sometimes bleached white
• noun a thin varnish made by dissolving lac in ethanol; used to finish wood