shelly /ˈʃɛli/ adjective3 •Composed of the shells of dead marine creatures •Abounding with shells.the snail, whose tender horns being hit Shrinks backward in his shelly cave. — 1593 •Resembling, or comprising, the shell of a molluscShrined are your offspring in a chrystal cradle, / Brighter than Helen's ere she yet had burst / Her shelly prison. — 1818 formsshellier · shelliest