1 a flat board, made of wood, metal, glass, etc., fixed to the wall or forming part of a cupboard/closet, BOOKCASE, etc., for things to be placed on:
I helped him put up some shelves in his bedroom. * The book I wanted was on the top shelf. * supermarket / library shelves * empty shelves
2 (geology) a thing shaped like a shelf, especially a piece of rock sticking out from a cliff or from the edge of a mass of land under the sea:
the continental shelf
seealsoSHELVE
IDIOMS
on the shelf (informal)
1 not wanted by anyone; not used
2 (old-fashioned) (especially of women) considered to be too old to get married
off the shelf that can be bought immediately and does not have to be specially designed or ordered:
I bought this package off the shelf. * off-the-shelf software packages * Some courses can be bought off the shelf as self-contained study packages.
compareoff the peg at PEGn.
