shellacking

verb

1. (form-of, gerund, participle, present)present participle and gerund of shellac

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)The act or process of coating with shellac.
2. (US, countable, informal, uncountable)A heavy defeat, drubbing, or beating; used particularly in sports and political contexts.

   “The News baseball team defeated the Press-Guardian outfit, 8 to 4, in a recent game, which squares accounts for the shellacking the News received a year ago.”

   “Mourned Candidate La Guardia: "What a shellacking they gave me!"”

   “Our baseball team got off to an indifferent start at the beginning of the season, but […] "Steve" Newman gave Gonzalo another shellacking that he won't forget for some time.”

   “Unity and democracy are still taking a shellacking here on the home front, despite our successes in the Marshall Islands and in Italy.”

   “After many months of watching its public image take a shellacking as a result of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, Congress finally started to move on lobby reform.”