shelf
/ʃɛlf/
shelf noun: a flat, rigid structure, fixed at right angles to a wall or forming a part of a cabinet, desk, etc., and used to display, store, or support objects. Also the alternative form of shelve.
Noun (1)
shelf (plural shelves)
- A flat, rigid structure, fixed at right angles to a wall or forming a part of a cabinet, desk, etc., and used to display, store, or support objects.
- We keep the old newspapers on the bottom shelf of the cupboard, and our photos on the top shelf.
- Localities across New Jersey imposed curfews to prevent looting. In Monmouth, Ocean and other counties, people waited for hours for gasoline at the few stations that had electricity. Supermarket shelves were stripped bare.2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, New York Times, retrieved 31 Oct 2012
- The capacity of such an object
- a shelf of videos
- Synonyms:
- shelfful
- A projecting ledge that resembles such an object.
- In 1981, China's Ministry of Geology surveyed the Taiwan Banks area and reported the following features: The Southern Basin (Taiwan Qian Tan) is situated approximately 200 km (124 mi) south-east of Swatao City and about 10 km (6.2 mi) south of the Taiwan Banks on the transition between shelf and...1985, Mark J. Valencia, “Issues: Hydrocarbon Potential and Jurisdictional Disputes”, in South-East Asian Seas: Oil Under Troubled Waters: Hydrocarbon Potential, Jurisdictional Issues, and...
- The part of a repository where shelvesets are stored.
- This is where the Visual Studio Shelving function can help. A shelf is a place on the server in source control that is separate from the main code line so it will not affect other developers.2012, Bradley Irby, Reengineering .NET
- A shelveset allows you to store a changeset on the server without adding it to the current codebase and sharing it with team members directly. Each team member has his own “shelf,” where he can store as many shelvesets as he wants.2016, Wouter de Kort, DevOps on the Microsoft Stack, page 114
Noun (2)
shelf (plural shelves or shelfs)
- A reef, sandbar, or shoal.
- But with a ſlaw ſuddein chauffing ſtorm-bringer Orion, / Spurnt vs too the waters: then ſootherne ſwaſhruter huffling / Flung vs on high ſhelueflats, to the rocks vs he buffeted after.1582, Virgil, “The Firste Booke of Virgil His Aeneis”, in Richard Stanyhurst, transl., The First Foure Bookes of Virgils Æneis, […], London: […] Henrie Bynneman […], published 1583, →OCLC...
- The Marchant that returnes from ſome far forrain lands, / Eſcaping dreadfull rocks and dangerous ſhelfs and ſands, / When as he ſees his ſhip her home-hauen enter ſafe, / Will he repine at God, and as offended chafe / For being brought to ſoone home to his natiue ſoile, / Free from all perills ſad...1594, Odet de la Noue, translated by Iosuah Silvester, The Profit of Imprisonment. A Paradox, VVritten in French by Odet de la Noue, Lord of Teligni, Being Prisoner in the Castle of Tournay., London...
Proper noun capitalized: Shelf
Shelf
- A village in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SE1228).
- A hamlet in Coychurch Lower community, Bridgend borough county borough, Wales (OS grid ref SS9380).
Also used as
shelf is also the alternative form of shelve.
shelf meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
shelf in Hindi
- structure
- तख़्ता taxtā
shelf in Tamil
- structure
- அடுக்கம் aṭukkam, அடுக்கு aṭukku
shelf in Marathi
- शेल्फ
shelf in Urdu
- structure
- طاق tāq
More languagesFewer languages
- shelf in Bengali
- তাক tak
- shelf in Telugu
- అర ara
- shelf in Malayalam
- ഷെൽഫ്
- shelf in Kannada
- ಶೆಲ್ಫ್, ಷೆಲ್ಫ್
- shelf in Punjabi
- ਸ਼ੈਲਫ, ਸ਼ੈਲਫ਼
- shelf in Gujarati
- અભરાઈ abharāī
- shelf in Odia
- ଶେଲ୍ଫ୍, ଶେଲ୍ଫ
- shelf in Nepali
- शेल्फ, शेल्फ गर्न
- shelf in Arabic
- رَفّ raff
- shelf in Malay
- rak
- shelf in Indonesian
- rak
- shelf in Persian
- رف raf
- shelf in Thai
- หิ้ง hîng
- shelf in Vietnamese
- giá sách, giá
- shelf in Myanmar
- စင် cang
Examples of shelf in a sentence
- My old encyclopedia has been gathering dust on the shelf for the past decade.
- The baked beans can go on this shelf, and the same goes for all these other tins.
- Where does this book belong? It belongs on the top shelf.
Synonyms of shelf
Forms of shelf
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | shelves |
| plural | shelfs |
| alternative form | shelve |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | shelfs |
| present participle | shelfing |
| past participle | shelfed |
| past | shelfed |
Origin of shelf
From Middle English schelfe, probably from Old English sċylfe, sċilfe (“shelf, ledge, deck of a ship”), from Proto-West Germanic *skilfijā, from Proto-Germanic *skelfō (“shelf, ledge, cliff”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to cut”), distantly related to sculpt, carve and shell. Cognate with Dutch schelf (“hay loft, haystack”), German Low German Schelf (“haystack”), Old Norse skjalf (“bench”).
Of obscure origin; evidently identical to Middle English shelp (“sandbar in a river”), but the sound shift is unexpected. Shelp might be from Old English scylp (“crag”) or Middle Dutch schelp-.
Words formed from shelf
- shelfy
- alongshelf
- beamshelf
- beehive shelf
- bottom-shelf
- commercial off-the-shelf
- conducting shelf
- high shelf
- ice-shelf
- intrashelf
- mantelshelf
- mid-shelf
- off-the-shelf
- off the shelf
- on the shelf
- rockshelf
- shelfback
- shelf bra
- shelfbreak
- shelf break
- shelf cloud
- shelf filler
- shelfful
- shelf fungus
- shelf ice
- shelfie
- shelflation
- shelfless
- shelf life
- shelflike
- shelflist
- shelf list
- shelfmark
- shelfmate
- shelfroom
- shelf-screamer
- shelf sea
- shelf-stable
- shelf stacker
- shelf stopper
- shelf-talker
- shelfware
- shelf-wobbler
- shelf-worn
- shelfworthy
- shelve
- shelvy
- simian shelf
- swing shelf
- toolshelf
- top-shelf
- top shelf
- undershelf
- shelfward
- shelfwards
Phrases with shelf
- ice shelf
- shelf bras
- shelf mark
- shelf fungi
- shelf lists
- shelf lives
- shelf marks
- mantel shelf
- parcel shelf
- shelf breaks
- shelf clouds
- sulfur shelf
3 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with shelf
38 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- atself
- Godself
- Guelph
- hirself
- it self
- m'self
- themself
- xyrself
- zirself
- -self
- Belf
- Chelf
- coself
- eirself
- emself
- Guelf
- Helf
- hisself
- hitself
- ittself
- know thyself
- meself
- off-the-shelf
- one's self
- oneself
- perself
- Relph
- theeself
- theirself
- theyself
- thonself
- thyself
- xemself
- y'allself
- yerself
- yo'self
- yoself
- youself
Questions about shelf
- What does shelf mean?
- Shelf means a flat, rigid structure, fixed at right angles to a wall or forming a part of a cabinet, desk, etc., and used to display, store, or support objects.
- What is shelf in Hindi?
- Shelf in Hindi is तख़्ता (taxtā). See Shelf meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is shelf?
- Shelf can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce shelf?
- Shelf is pronounced /ʃɛlf/.
- What is the plural of shelf?
- The plural of shelf is shelves.
Words near shelf in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shelf (page history and authors); Shelf (page history and authors); shelf (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shelf (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shelf (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shelf (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shelf (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); shelf (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-shelf.wav.
Cite this entry: “shelf.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shelf. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.