shelf

  • noun (pl. shelves) 1 a flat length of wood or other rigid material attached to a wall or forming part of a piece of furniture, providing a surface for storage or display. 2 a ledge of rock or protruding strip of land.

  — PHRASES off the shelf taken from existing stock, not designed or made to order. on the shelf 1 no longer useful or desirable. 2 past an age when one might expect to be married.

  — ORIGIN Low German schelf.

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