shelf

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shelf / shelf/ • n. (pl. shelves / shelvz/ ) a flat length of wood or rigid material, attached to a wall or forming part of a piece of furniture, that provides a surface for the storage or display of objects. ∎  a ledge of rock or protruding strip of land. ∎  a submarine bank, or a part of the continental shelf.PHRASES: off the shelf not designed or made to order but taken from existing stock or supplies: off-the-shelf software packages.on the shelf (of people or things) no longer useful or desirable: an injury that has kept him on the shelf.DERIVATIVES: shelf·ful / -ˌfoŏl/ n. (pl. -fuls) shelf·like / -ˌlīk/ adj.ORIGIN: Middle English: from Middle Low German schelf; related to Old English scylfe ‘partition,’ scylf ‘crag.’

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