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.

• 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.
• To coat with shellac.

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