on the shelf
Idioms-
Inactive, not employed, as in With mandatory retirement at 65, many useful employees are put on the shelf . [Second half of 1500s]
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In a state of disuse, as in We'll have to put her proposal on the shelf until we have more funds . [Late 1800s]
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Without prospects of marriage. For example, After she broke her third engagement, her parents were sure she'd be on the shelf . This usage is always said of a woman and today considered offensive. It is probably obsolescent. [Early 1800s] All these usages allude to an article left on the shelf of a store, bookcase, or the like.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Do we really want to be pouring money into this 80-year-old technology that is a weapon of mass destruction and is built for deterrence? It’s not built for use on the battlefield. It’s not built for fighting. It’s built to stay on the shelf and deter our adversaries.”
From Slate
Iwerks notes the film was completed years ago, but sat on the shelf.
From Los Angeles Times
I wanted to ask him if he’d sign this book, which had now begun to write its own mythology as it sat sentinel over his other signed books on the shelf behind me.
From Los Angeles Times
“The Last Chairlift” now sits on the shelf behind me as I type these words, right next to “The World According to Garp.”
From Los Angeles Times
The rooms in Irving’s stories are there on the shelf, inviting me to walk through them whenever I want.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
