shelve

Plural: shelves

Verb

Verb Forms: shelved, shelving, shelves

To place an item on a shelf; to defer or postpone.
hold back to a later time
place on a shelf
- "shelve books"
To furnish (a place) with shelves; especially, to furnish (a library, etc.) with bookshelves.
To place (something) on a shelf; especially, to place or arrange (books) on a bookshelf.
To place (something) in a certain location, as if on a shelf.
To take (drugs) by anal or vaginal insertion.
To place (something) in a certain location, as if on a shelf.
To have sex with (someone).
To set aside (something), as if on a shelf.
To postpone or put aside, or entirely cease dealing with (a matter for discussion, a project, etc.).
To set aside (something), as if on a shelf.
To remove (someone) from active service.
To hang over or project like a shelf; to overhang.
To tilt or tip (a cart) to discharge its contents.
Of land or a surface: to incline, to slope.
To be in an inclined or sloping position.

Noun

A rocky shelf or ledge of a cliff, a mountain, etc.
Alternative spelling of shelf (“a reef, sandbar, or shoal”).

Examples

He decided to SHELVE his risky bingo attempt for a safer, shorter word in Scrabble.
The library needs volunteers to help shelve books.
They shelved the entire project when they heard how much it would cost.
to shelve a closet or a library

Origin / Etymology

The verb is a back-formation from shelves, the plural of shelf (“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”).
The noun is derived from sense 2 (“(obsolete) to hang over or project like a shelf”).

Synonyms

defer, hold over, postpone, prorogue, put off, put over, remit, set back, table, Any of Thesaurus:copulate + "with", Formal terms, Informal and slang terms, ball, bang, bauf, be with, bed, beep, boff, boink, bone, bonk, boom-boom, coit, coitize, dick, diddle, dig out, dight, do, doink, drill, eff, enjoy, expletive deleted, feague, feck, fill, frack, frak, frick, frig, fuck, get into someone's pants, get over on, get up in, give someone one, give someone the time, go in unto, go to bed with, go with, halt#Verb, have, have one's way with, have one's wicked way with, hit, hump, jape, jump, jump someone's bones, knob, knock, knock off, know, know someone in the biblical sense, lay, lie by, lie with, love, love up, make, mothball#Verb, mount, nail, occupy, penetrate, pigeonhole#Verb, plough, plug, poke, pork, pound, prig, pump, quit, ream, rock, roger, root, run through, rut, sard, schlong, screw, season, seduce, see to, service, shaft, shag, shelve, slay, sleep with, slip it to, smash, smush, stallionize, stop#Verb, swive, table#Verb, take, tap, tup, wap

Antonyms

deshelve, unshelve

Scrabble Score: 12

shelve: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
shelve: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
shelve: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 13

shelve: valid Words With Friends Word