shelf English · revision 10507

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1386|origins=gml schelf}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʃɛlf/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English shelfe, probably [[bor|gml|schelf|t=shelf, set of shelves]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998) related to Old English scylfe, partition, deck of a ship, and scylf, crag, pinnacle,^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) from Proto-Germanic *skelf-, possibly from a root meaning to split.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Merriam-Webster derives it from Old English scylfe directly.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A board fixed horizontally to hold things: about 1386, about 1390 in Chaucer as shelves in Barnhart; earlier in the surname Shelvemel (1241).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''On the shelf'', put aside as useless, is from 1575,^(OED 1989) of women without prospects of marriage from 1839,^(OED 1989) and in slang, in pawn, from 1859.^(OED 1989) The contents of a shelf, as of books, is from 1732.^(OED 1989) A ledge or terrace of rock is from the 19th century,^(Hoad 1986) and ''off the shelf'', from ready-made stock, from 1936.^(OED 1989) The verb [[shelve]], to project like a shelf, is from the late 16th century, from the plural shelves.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1241 – Shelvemel (surname).^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1386 – a shelf.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1575 – on the shelf.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1732 – a shelf's contents.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1936 – off the shelf.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A flat board fixed horizontally to a wall or in a cabinet to hold objects.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The contents of a shelf.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A projecting ledge of rock or ice.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(mining)'' Bedrock.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[shelfful]]

+ * [[shelflike]]

+ * [[mantelshelf]]

+ * [[shelflist]]

+ * [[off-the-shelf]]

+ * [[shelve]]

+ * [[top-shelf]]

+ * [[shelf fungus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[bookshelf]]

+ * [[continental shelf]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Shelf, a sandbank or submerged ridge (1540s), is probably a different word, an alteration of Middle English shelp,^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002) and Trench notes it survives only in mariners' charts.^(Trench 1859) In Australian slang a shelf is an informer.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}