US /ˈʃɛlv/ UK /ʃɛlv/
verb Freq #57761

Meanings

  1. 1
    verb

    place on a shelf

    Shelve books.

  2. 2
    verb

    To furnish (a place) with shelves; especially, to furnish (a library, etc.) with bookshelves.

    To shelve a closet or a library.

  3. 3
    verb

    To place (something) on a shelf; especially, to place or arrange (books) on a bookshelf.

    The library needs volunteers to help shelve books.

  4. 4
    verb

    To place (something) in a certain location, as if on a shelf.

    I love shelving ecstasy!

Thesaurus

Word family
Derived forms bookshelvedeshelvemisshelvereshelveshelvementshelvershelvesetshelvingshelvyunshelve

Etymology

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”).

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