shelve
English · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
shelve¹
- /ʃɛlv/ US, UK
Rhymes with -ɛlv
Where it comes from
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, verb sense 2 (“(obsolete) to hang over or project like a shelf”).
verb shelves · shelving · shelved
- To furnish (a place) with shelves; especially, to furnish (a library, etc.) with bookshelves. to shelve a closet or a library
- To place (something) on a shelf; especially, to place or arrange (books) on a bookshelf. The library needs volunteers to help shelve books.
- To take (drugs) by anal or vaginal insertion. I love shelving ecstasy!
-
To have sex with (someone).
Similar: Formal terms, bed, coit, coitize, dight, enjoy, feague, go in unto, go to bed with, have, know, lie by
- To postpone or put aside, or entirely cease dealing with (a matter for discussion, a project, etc.). They shelved the entire project when they heard how much it would cost.
- To remove (someone) from active service. 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.
- To hang over or project like a shelf; to overhang. Her chamber is aloft, far from the ground, / And built ſo ſheluing, that one cannot climbe it / VVithout apparent hazard of his life.
- To extend via a series of projecting shelves. The beach shelved quickly and he kept underwater as long as he could, swimming with powerful strokes and feeling the soft coolness all over him.
noun shelves
- A rocky shelf or ledge of a cliff, a mountain, etc. "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,[…]"
shelve²
- /ʃɛlv/ US, UK
Rhymes with -ɛlv
Where it comes from
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”).
verb shelves · shelving · shelved · shelve
- To tilt or tip (a cart) to discharge its contents.
- Of land or a surface: to incline, to slope. The spirit cometh first, wrapt 'twixt our wings, / Adown the causeway steep, / That shelveth towards the silent shadowy deep, / The grave of things.
- To be in an inclined or sloping position.
shelve³
- /ʃɛlv/ US, UK
Rhymes with -ɛlv
Where it comes from
Treated as a singular form of shelves, the plural of shelf (“reef; sandbar; shoal”).
noun shelves
- Alternative spelling of shelf (“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.
Shelve⁴
proper noun
- A hamlet in Worthen with Shelve parish, western Shropshire, England (OS grid ref SO3399).
Translations
Talk about this word "shelve." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/shelve. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. shelve. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/shelve "shelve." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/shelve.Cite this
@misc{shelve_2026,
title = {shelve},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/shelve},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
