on the shelf

Idioms  

1. Inactive, not employed, as in With mandatory retirement at 65, many useful employees are put on the shelf . [Second half of 1500s]

2. In a state of disuse, as in We'll have to put her proposal on the shelf until we have more funds . [Late 1800s]

3. 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.

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Example Sentences

"It is on the shelf, not in the bin," said one EU diplomat, speaking like others on condition of anonymity.

From Barron's

“Beartooth” is a grand American adventure, one to place on the shelf next to the works of Ernest Hemingway and Cormac McCarthy.

From The Wall Street Journal

“There are still significant energy resources on the shelf, and Europe needs stable oil and gas deliveries.”

From The Wall Street Journal

“Yap! Seems I’ve got a bit of a cold coming on. No cause for alarm. They come and go with me, every four weeks or so. Arf! That is to say, ah-choo! Hand me the almanac, would you, Quinzy? It tends to wander off if I don’t put it right back on the shelf. Why, you’d think the book was cursed, woof!”

From Literature

She had put it there herself, at that exact spot on the shelf.

From Literature

Related Words

• asleep
• comatose
• inert
• inoperative
• latent
• passive
• sidelined
• sluggish