Refine this word faster
Shelve
Definitions
- 1 A hamlet in Worthen with Shelve parish, western Shropshire, England (OS grid ref SO3399).
- 1 A rocky shelf or ledge of a cliff, a mountain, etc. archaic
""This lake," said Bruce, "whose barriers drear / Are precipices sharp and sheer, / Yielding no track for goat or deer, / Save the black shelves we tread,[…]""
- 2 Alternative spelling of shelf (“a reef, sandbar, or shoal”). alt-of, alternative, archaic
"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."
- 1 To furnish (a place) with shelves; especially, to furnish (a library, etc.) with bookshelves. transitive
"to shelve a closet or a library"
- 2 To tilt or tip (a cart) to discharge its contents. British, dialectal, transitive
- 3 place on a shelf wordnet
- 4 To place (something) on a shelf; especially, to place or arrange (books) on a bookshelf. transitive
"The library needs volunteers to help shelve books."
- 5 Of land or a surface: to incline, to slope. intransitive
"The spirit cometh first, wrapt 'twixt our wings, / Adown the causeway steep, / That shelveth towards the silent shadowy deep, / The grave of things."
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 hold back to a later time wordnet
- 7 To place (something) in a certain location, as if on a shelf.; To take (drugs) by anal or vaginal insertion. figuratively, slang, transitive
"I love shelving ecstasy!"
- 8 To be in an inclined or sloping position. intransitive, obsolete
- 9 To place (something) in a certain location, as if on a shelf.; To have sex with (someone). Wales, figuratively, slang, transitive
- 10 To set aside (something), as if on a shelf.; To postpone or put aside, or entirely cease dealing with (a matter for discussion, a project, etc.). figuratively, transitive
"They shelved the entire project when they heard how much it would cost."
- 11 To set aside (something), as if on a shelf.; To remove (someone) from active service. also, figuratively, reflexive, transitive
"The time, too, nearly ripe for his great schemes, made it doubly necessary that he should exert himself, and prevent being shelved with a plausible excuse of tender compassion for his infirmities."
- 12 To hang over or project like a shelf; to overhang. intransitive, obsolete
"Her chamber is aloft, far from the ground, / And built ſo ſheluing, that one cannot climbe it / VVithout apparent hazard of his life."
Etymology
The verb is a back-formation from shelves, the plural of shelf (“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”). The noun is derived from etymology 1 sense 2 (“(obsolete) to hang over or project like a shelf”).
The verb is a back-formation from shelves, the plural of shelf (“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”). The noun is derived from etymology 1 sense 2 (“(obsolete) to hang over or project like a shelf”).
From Late Middle English shelven (“to separate (someone or something) from another thing, keep away”); further etymology uncertain, possibly: * from shelf, shelfe (“shelf; cabinet, cupboard; grassy bank”) (though this is doubted by the Oxford English Dictionary); or * related to West Frisian skelf (“not level or straight, oblique”).
Treated as a singular form of shelves, the plural of shelf (“reef; sandbar; shoal”).
See also for "shelve"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: shelve