Meaning

5 senses

  1. A 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.

    We keep the old newspapers on the bottom shelf of the cupboard, and our photos on the top shelf.

    Regal, Brett, Regalbrett

    по́лкаpólka

    поли́цяpolýcja

  2. The capacity of such an object

    a shelf of videos

  3. A projecting ledge that resembles such an object.

  4. The part of a repository where shelvesets are stored.

  5. A reef, sandbar, or shoal.

    Schelf

    шельфšelʹf

More definitions
  • a support that consists of a horizontal surface for holding objects
  • a projecting ridge on a mountain or submerged under water

Examples

355 sentences

  1. I can't reach the top shelf.

    Я не можу досягнути верхньої полки. — deniko

    ruЯ не могу достать до верхней полки. — afyodor

    deIch kann das oberste Fach nicht erreichen. — Espi

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. A book dropped from the shelf.

    Книжка впала з полки. — deniko

    ruС полки упала книга. — marafon

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  3. Put the flour on the shelf.

    Поклади борошно на полку. — deniko

    ruПоложи муку на полку. — Selena777

    deStell das Mehl ins Regal. — Pfirsichbaeumchen

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  4. Please put the book on the shelf.

    Будь-ласка, покладіть книгу на полицю. — quez

    ruПожалуйста, положи книгу на полку. — odexed

    deStell das Buch bitte auf das Regal. — Tamy

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  5. He put the book on the shelf.

    Він поставив книжку на полку. — deniko

    ruОн поставил книгу на полку. — marafon

    deEr stellte das Buch ins Regal. — riotlake

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
structure:
Русский
By meaning 2
structure:
reef, shoal, sandbar:
Deutsch
By meaning 2
structure:
reef, shoal, sandbar:

Origin

From Middle English schelfe, probably from Old English sċylfe, sċilfe (“shelf, ledge, deck

From Middle English schelfe, probably from Old English sċylfe, sċilfe (“shelf, ledge, deck of a ship”), from Proto-West Germanic *skilfijā, from Proto-Germanic *skelfō (“shelf, ledge, cliff”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to cut”), distantly related to sculpt, carve and shell. Cognate with Dutch schelf (“hay loft, haystack”), German Low German Schelf (“haystack”), Old Norse skjalf (“bench”).

Of obscure origin; evidently identical to Middle English shelp (“sandbar in a river”), but the sound shift is unexpected. Shelp might be from Old English scylp (“crag”) or Middle Dutch schelp-.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: shelves / shelfs
Singularshelf
Pluralshelves / shelfs

regular

Synonyms

2 synonyms
capacity:shelfful
Close in meaning
  • a projecting ridge on a mountain or submerged under water:ledge

Word family

47 related words
Relatedshelveshelfy
Derivedalongshelfbeamshelfbeehive shelfbottom-shelfcommercial off-the-shelfconducting shelfhigh shelfintrashelfmantelshelfmid-shelfoff-the-shelfrockshelfshelfbackshelf brashelfbreakshelf cloudshelf fillershelffulshelf fungusshelf iceshelfieshelflationshelflessshelf life

Collocations

11 patterns
  • the top shelf
  • top shelf
  • on the shelf
  • from the shelf
  • off the shelf
  • top shelf but
  • the bottom shelf
  • the shelf and
  • bottom shelf
  • on that shelf
  • shelf but

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
sheetB1sheikhsheilashekelshellA2shellfishshelterB1

Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.

shelf — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto