shelf paper

American  

noun

1. paper used for covering shelves, especially those of a cupboard or kitchen cabinet.

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Etymology

Origin of shelf paper

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

Remember about 20 years ago when some Target stores began selling groceries, allowing you to buy bananas and breakfast cereal along with your underwear and shelf paper?

From Washington Post • Apr. 15, 2023

Mrs. Parish loved Christmas and had specific traditions: Presents were wrapped in crisp white shelf paper with bright red ribbon, and Rigaud Cypres candles were paired with bouquets of paperwhites, said Ms. Harris.

From New York Times • Oct. 19, 2021

The Perrys projected each day's rushes on two sheets of shelf paper tacked to the wall of their room in the Haverford Inn.

From Time Magazine Archive

Kitchen shelf paper, white or tinted to match one’s color scheme, may be impregnated with insecticide, not merely on one but on both sides.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

I haven't touched the piano since—" "Tack up your shelf paper while I'm gone, Lilly—your cupboards look so bare—and then come over to lunch with me and we'll go to the euchre together.

From Star-Dust by Hurst, Fannie