shelf

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A flat board fixed to a wall or inside a cupboard, used to hold or store things.

   We keep the old newspapers on the bottom shelf of the cupboard.

2. 2
   noun

   A flat ledge of rock that sticks out, especially on a mountain or under the sea.

   Seals rested on the rocky shelf below the cliff.

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”).

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