Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use shelve in a sentence

17 example sentences · verb, noun

Shelve means to furnish (a place) with shelves; especially, to furnish (a library, etc.) with bookshelves. Example: “The library needs volunteers to help shelve books.”

Examples of shelve by meaning

verbTo furnish (a place) with shelves; especially, to furnish (a library, etc.) with bookshelves.

  • to shelve a closet or a library

verbTo place (something) on a shelf; especially, to place or arrange (books) on a bookshelf.

  • The library needs volunteers to help shelve books.

verbTo take (drugs) by anal or vaginal insertion.

  • I love shelving ecstasy!2002 June 4, Anthony Hodges, “Drugs Seized by Customs”, in alt.anagrams (Usenet)
  • I had a funny conversation with my dad last night about shelving.2011 June 19, Frances Morton, quoting Emma, “School daze”, in Shayne Currie, editor, The Herald on Sunday, Auckland: New Zealand Media and...
  • Some people use Ecstasy using a method known as "shafting" or "shelving" which involves inserting a pill or tablet into the anus.2013 February 22, Edward J. Benavidez, “Effects of Ecstasy”, in Getting High: The Effects of Drugs, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN...

verbTo postpone or put aside, or entirely cease dealing with (a matter for discussion, a project, etc.).

  • They shelved the entire project when they heard how much it would cost.
  • D357–D384, on the West Highland and Callander-Oban lines has been shelved.1961 October, “Motive Power Miscellany: Scottish Region”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 636
  • When we shelve our pain, it doesn't go away.2005, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, David Kessler, “The Inner World of Grief”, in On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief through the...

verbTo extend via a series of projecting shelves.

  • The beach shelved quickly and he kept underwater as long as he could, swimming with powerful strokes and feeling the soft coolness all over him.1953, Ian Fleming, “Tide of Passion”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 165

verbOf land or a surface: to incline, to slope.

  • The sand shelved gently here.1958, Anthony Burgess, chapter 16, in The Enemy in the Blanket (The Malayan Trilogy; 2), London: William Heinemann, published 1979, →ISBN...

More sentences with shelve

  • Emily said to shelve these books in Young Adult and to make a table display with some of them.From the entry young adult
  • We’ve proposed to shelve this problem for the time being. . . .1998 [1989], George H. W. Bush, Brent Scowcroft, quoting Deng Xiaoping, A World Transformed, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, →LCCN…. From the entry Diaoyutai Islands
  • In addition to the fresh-baked bread, cake, and fruit-filled kolacky, they also shelve locally produced clover honey.1995 April 7, Richard Moskal, “Wonewoc, WI”, in Chicago Reader. From the entry kolacky
  • That same month, another local icon, Guinness, shelved plans to build a new $1.04 billion (Canadian) "superbrewery" in the Dublin outskirts.2009 May 3, David Olive, “The boom, bust and echo of the Emerald economy”, in Toronto Star. From the entry superbrewery
  • The booksellers' tasks were to unbox, shelve, and handle cash.2005, Andrew Laties, Rebel Bookseller. From the entry unbox
  • It was the terminal quiet that had bugged her; trying to shelve books extra-quietly so as not to disturb anyone’s studying.1995, A[aron] A[lbert] Carr, chapter 40, in Eye Killers (American Indian Literature and Critical Studies Series; 13), Norman, Okla.…. From the entry bookshelver
  • Not reaching even the plumber from Kenosha today, will it be completely shelved in the greater égalitarianism of tomorrow?1961, The Iowa Journal of History (State Historical Society of Iowa), volume 59, issues 1–2, page 123. From the entry égalitarianism

Meaning of shelve

  1. verb To furnish (a place) with shelves; especially, to furnish (a library, etc.) with bookshelves.
  2. verb To place (something) on a shelf; especially, to place or arrange (books) on a bookshelf.
  3. verb To take (drugs) by anal or vaginal insertion.

Full definition of shelve

Questions about shelve in a sentence

How do you use shelve in a sentence?
Shelve is used as a verb and noun. For example: “The library needs volunteers to help shelve books.”
What is a short sentence with shelve?
“I love shelving ecstasy!”
What does shelve mean?
Shelve means to furnish (a place) with shelves; especially, to furnish (a library, etc.) with bookshelves.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shelve (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use shelve in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/shelve. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.