shelve

See also: Shelve

English

Etymology

Back-formation from shelves.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ʃɛlv/
Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -ɛlv

Verb

shelve (third-person singular simple present shelves, present participle shelving, simple past and past participle shelved)

(transitive) To place on a shelf.
The library needs volunteers to help shelve books.
(transitive) To set aside; to quit or postpone.
They shelved the entire project when they heard how much it would cost.
- 1961 October, “Motive Power Miscellany: Scottish Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 636:
  The arrival of the new Birmingham units on the West Highland line suggests that a scheme to use 16 of the next batch of English Electric Type 4s previously allotted to the Scottish Region, Nos. D357-D384, on the West Highland and Callander-Oban lines has been shelved.
- 2005, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, David Kessler, On Grief and Grieving, →ISBN, page 102:
  When we shelve our pain, it doesn't go away. Rather, it festers in a myriad of ways.
To furnish with shelves.
to shelve a closet or a library
(slang) To take (drugs) by anal or vaginal insertion.
- 2002 June 4, Anthony Hodges, “Drugs seized by Customs (WARNING)”, in alt.anagrams, Usenet:
  I love shelving ecstasy!
- 2011 June 19, “School daze”, in The New Zealand Herald:
  I had a funny conversation with my dad last night about shelving. It's when you shelve a pill up your bum. It was a lovely dinner conversation.
- 2013, Edward J. Benavidez, Getting High: The Effects of Drugs, →ISBN, page 65:
  Some people use Ecstasy using a method known as “shafting” or “shelving” which involves inserting a pill or tablet into the anus.
- 2016, John B. Saunders, Noeline C. Latt, & E. Jane Marshall, Addiction Medicine, →ISBN, page 44:
  Occasionally, they are taken anally ('shelving').
(Wales, slang) To have sex with.
(intransitive) To slope; to incline; to form into shelves.
- 1958, Anthony Burgess, The Enemy in the Blanket (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 372:
  The sand shelved gently here. Only at waist-level did the sudden dips occur, and then an upward-sloping hill would lead to a sand-bar, to a new shore islanded in the sea.

Synonyms

(set aside): pigeonhole, table
(have sex with): coitize, go to bed with, sleep with; see also Thesaurus:copulate with

Translations

to place on a shelf

Bulgarian: слагам на рафт (slagam na raft)
Danish: sætte på hylden
Finnish: panna hyllyyn
Italian: archiviare (it)
Maori: whata, whakawhata
Polish: odkładać na półkę
Portuguese: arquivar (pt)
Swahili: daka (sw)

to set aside, quit, or halt

Bulgarian: отлагам (bg) (otlagam), слагам на трупчета (slagam na trupčeta)
Danish: skrinlægge
Finnish: hyllyttää (fi)
French: suspendre (fr)
Italian: accantonare (it), riporre (it)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: skrinlegge, henlegge (no)
Polish: odkładać na półkę
Russian: класть на полку (klastʹ na polku)
Spanish: dar carpetazo, cajonear, engavetar (es)
Swedish: skrinlägga (sv)

Noun

shelve (plural shelves)

A rocky ledge or shelf.
- 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, II.181:
  And all was stillness, save the sea-bird's cry, / And dolphin's leap, and little billow crossed / By some low rock or shelve, that made it fret / Against the boundary it scarcely wet.

References

“shelve”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

helves