shelf: [14] Shelf appears to have been borrowed from Middle Low German schelf ‘shelf’. This may have come from the Germanic base *skelf- ‘split’, which also produced Old English scylfe ‘partition’, the word’s underlying meaning therefore being a ‘piece of split wood used for standing things on’. The derivative shelve dates from the 16th century.
shelf (n.)
late 14c., from Middle Low German schelf "shelf, set of shelves," or from Old English cognate scylfe, which perhaps meant "shelf, ledge, floor," and scylf "peak, pinnacle," from Proto-Germanic *skelf- "split," possibly from the notion of a split piece of wood (compare Old Norse skj?lf "bench"), from PIE root *(s)kel- (1) "to cut, cleave" (see scale (n.1)).
Shelf life first recorded 1927. Phrase on the shelf "out of the way, inactive" is attested from 1570s; of unmarried women with no prospects from 1839. Off the shelf "ready-made" is from 1936. Meaning "ledge of rock" is from 1809, perhaps from or influenced by shelf (n.2). Related: Shelves.
shelf (n.2)
"sandbank," 1540s, of unknown origin. Related: Shelfy "abounding in sandbanks."
例文
1. The house stands on a shelf of rock among pines.
家は松の茂みの中に突き出た岩の上にそびえ立っている。
2.She accidentally knocked the tea tin off the shelf .
彼女はうっかり棚の茶缶を触ってしまった。
3.He 's useless at DIY.He won 'teven put up a shelf .
彼は自分で手を動かす能力があまりにも悪く、棚を作ることさえできない。
4.I was afraid of getting left on the shelf .
嫁に行けないのが怖い。
5.He reached for a tin of tobacco on the shelf behind him.