shelly

name

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.

adj

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.”

   “the shelly shore”

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.”

   “It is seen commonly in connection with flat-foot, and where the horn of the wall is thin and shelly.”

3. Abounding with shells.

   “a shelly beach”

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