English · Idiom Candidate

on the shelf

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Sense 1

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Unused or postponed, often indefinitely

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Không sử dụng hoặc hoãn, thường là vô thời hạn

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: objects placed on a shelf

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The pressures of wedded bliss excluded Sadie as effectively from the life of her former friend as if they had been on different continents.

For Hamed, the eldest son of Um Hamed, who found himself on the shelf quite unexpectedly and yet was ready to marry.

British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Sense 2

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

transported. With old maids it has another and very different meaning.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

đã bị lưu đày

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Era: ca. 1874 (Victorian)

Where it’s used: Origin British & Irish English

Sources & notes

Historical definition reproduced from Hotten’s The Slang Dictionary (1874, public domain; Project Gutenberg #42108, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.

Equivalents & related

Near equivalent lỡ thời (adjective) on the shelf, past usual age for marriage but still unmarried Tiếng Việt

Topics: Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “on the shelf” mean?

Unused or postponed, often indefinitely Literally: objects placed on a shelf

Is “on the shelf” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

What is the closest equivalent?

“lỡ thời” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.