shelf1
n.
(pl. shelves)
- a flat length of wood or rigid material attached to a wall or forming part of a piece of furniture, providing a surface for the storage or display of objects.
- a ledge of rock or protruding strip of land.
▸a submarine bank, or a part of the continental shelf.
Phrase
- off the shelf
not designed or made to order. - on the shelf
- no longer useful or desirable.
- past an age when one might expect to be married.
Derivative
- shelf-ful n.
(pl. shelf-fuls)
. - shelf-like adj.
Etymology
ME: from Mid. Low Ger. schelf; rel. to OE scylfe ‘partition’, scylf ‘crag’.
shelf2
n.
(pl. shelfs)
an informer.
v.
inform on.
Etymology
1930s: prob. from the phr. on the shelf ‘out of the way’.
