shelf
21
3.7
- noun
- /ʃɛlf/
- The item is then placed on the hold shelf, where it is held for seven days.
- continental shelf
- outer continental shelf
- ice shelf
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Watch on YouTubeThere's there's a shelf, I mean, not a not a totally flat shelf, but there's there's parts that we would have to know were were land.
- There's there's a shelf, I mean, not a not a totally flat shelf, but there's there's parts that we would have to know were were land.
- The stink of burning filled the wind as with the hissing roar of the dragon turning to land on the shelf of rock, breathed out a sigh of fire.
Examples
-
Joey reaches up and brings the radio down from the shelf and into the main room.
Fiction book (1992) -
That's the continental shelf, continental shelf area.
-
I started with the first book on the bottom shelf and went through the lot, one by one.
Academic text (1992) -
Myron was on the edge of the shelf that gave the lake its name.
Fiction book (1990) -
The land ends here, but the ice carries on, the Great Shelf filling the bay of Ross Sea.
Fiction book (1998) -
I noticed something else: about ten feet below, a sort of shelf or ledge appeared.
Fiction book (1997) -
In the Atlantic Ocean, only the North Sea continental shelf approaches its breadth.
Academic text (1992) -
Furthermore, Alaska's coastal and continental shelf waters provide habitat for most of the nation.
Academic text (1992) -
Geologists start scanning the continental shelves and slopes with side-scan sonar.
-
The ice shelf in Antarctica is crucial for understanding climate change.
Synonyms
85
3.6
A narrow flat surface that sticks out from a wall or cliff
14
4.1
A flat level area on a slope used for farming
6
4.1
A thick, flat piece of ice floating where a glacier reaches the sea
6
5.5
A shallow part of the sea next to a continent, usually less than 200 meters deep
3
7.2
A flat area on a hillside or slope where people can rest
1
8.2
A large area of ice attached to land that sticks out over the sea, often near the poles
Idioms
Compounds
- Specialized
6
5.5
A shallow part of the sea next to a continent, usually less than 200 meters deep
- UK
1
8.2
A large area of ice attached to land that sticks out over the sea, often near the poles
How Big
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word shelf comes from the same old word scelf meaning a 'ledge', so it can also mean a flat, extended ledge of rock or land that sticks out. That's why we call a natural flat ridge or underwater area a shelf, because it looks like a large, natural shelf.