shelf(1) (iou) and borough council (oh)

shelf(1) (iou)

shelf noun1. . ME.

I.
A thin flat piece of wood or Other rigid material, projecting horizontally from a wall, or as part of a bookcase, cabinet, etc., used to hold books, ornaments, Commodities, etc.; a flat-topped recess in a wall etc. used for holding or displaying objects. ME.
off the shelf (of goods etc.) supplied ready-made; available from existing stock. on the shelf (a) put aside, deferred; no longer active or of use; (b) (of a woman) past the age at which she might expect to be married. hanging shelf: see HANGING adjective. open shelf: see OPEN adjective.
B. Chatwin A narrow room, made narrower by..plate-glass shelves..crammed with porcelain.
b. An object or objects placed on a shelf; the contents of a shelf. M18.
A cupboard, a cabinet. ME-L16.
a. Printing. In a wooden hand-press, a flat wooden bar divided in two which clasps the hose and causes it to come down perpendicularly. Also called till. obsolete exc. Hist. E18.
b. A timber bolted on to the inner side of the frame of a wooden ship to support the deck-beams. M19.
A police informer. Austral. slang. E20.
II.
A ledge, projecting layer, or terrace of land, rock, etc. LME.
continental shelf: see CONTINENTAL adjective.
C. Kilian The Shelf extended to the horizon; a vast plain of ice.
Mining & Geology. Bedrock. L17.
Comb.: shelf appeal the attractiveness to a customer of packaged goods displayed in a shop; shelf back US the spine of a book; shelf-catalogue a short-title catalogue of the books in a library arranged according to their location on the shelves and consequently according to their class or subject; shelf cod: found in inshore waters above the continental shelf; shelf company Commerce a public company, without assets but constituted as a legal corporation, which is kept on the shelf until ready to be used as a listing vehicle for an existing private company; shelf ice [translating German Schelfeis] ice which forms a thick level layer on water (usu. the sea) but is attached to land; shelf-life (a) the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use or consumption; (b) (esp. of a book) the period of time during which an item is considered as saleable; shelf-list = shelf-catalogue above; shelf-mark noun & verb (a) noun a notation on a book, and listed in a catalogue, specifying the book's location in a library, a press-mark; (b) verb trans. give a shelf-mark to; shelf paper: used for lining shelves; shelf-room available space on a shelf; shelf sea an expanse of sea overlying continental shelf.
? First recorded as a place-name.
shelfful noun as much or as many as a shelf will hold L19.
shelflike adjective resembling (that of) a shelf M19.
shelfy adjective1 having ledges or terraces of rock etc. M18.

borough council (oh)

n [C]
especially BrE the organization that controls a borough

Sites

Pest Star