shelf
Americannoun
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a thin slab of wood, metal, etc., fixed horizontally to a wall or in a frame, for supporting objects.
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the contents of this.
a shelf of books.
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a surface or projection resembling this; ledge.
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Physical Geography.
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a sandbank or submerged extent of rock in the sea or river.
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the bedrock underlying an alluvial deposit or the like.
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Archery. the upper part of the bow hand, on which the arrow rests.
idioms
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off the shelf, readily available from merchandise in stock.
Any of those parts can be purchased off the shelf.
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on the shelf,
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put aside temporarily; postponed.
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inactive; useless.
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without prospects of marriage, as after having broken an engagement.
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noun
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a thin flat plank of wood, metal, etc, fixed horizontally against a wall, etc, for the purpose of supporting objects
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something resembling this in shape or function
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the objects placed on a shelf, regarded collectively
a shelf of books
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a projecting layer of ice, rock, etc, on land or in the sea See also continental shelf
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mining a layer of bedrock hit when sinking a shaft
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archery the part of the hand on which an arrow rests when the bow is grasped
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See off the shelf
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put aside or abandoned: used esp of unmarried women considered to be past the age of marriage
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of shelf
1350–1400; Middle English; Old English scylfe; akin to Low German schelf shelf, Old Norse -skjalf bench
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.
See Examples For:
A shelf says: I buy my tuna packed in olive oil, not water, and I know what to do with preserved lemons.
From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026
Still, 65 days is a blink of an eye compared to the shelf life of many core Smucker products—fruit spreads, canned coffee and dog food—which can last for at least a year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
"I said to him very seriously, I'm trying to write a new project and if I've got Oscars sitting on the shelf, think about how daunting that would be," Nolan says.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
Twinkies’ shelf life is considered a wonder of food science.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
On entering the store, I saw Grandpa over behind the counter, setting canned goods on a shelf.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
Other items that Haaland purchased and featured on his YouTube video have also been flying off the shelves.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
It does not look at how many industrial processes a food requires to end up on your shelves.
From Slate ● Jul. 12, 2026
Supermarket shelves have been wiped clean as residents stock up on supplies ahead of the typhoon.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
Walmart implemented those plans on shelves June 29, and later readied a press release touting the price cuts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
“I wish,” I say as I dig through my mother’s drawers, the shelves in her closet, the junk drawer in the kitchen.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
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.
