different between shallow vs shelf

English

Etymology

From Middle English schalowe (“not deep, shallow”); apparently related to Middle English schalde, schold, scheld, schealde (“shallow”), from Old English s?eald (“shallow”), from Proto-Germanic *skal-, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelh?- (“to parch, dry out”). Related to Low German Scholl (“shallow water”). See also shoal.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??al??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??æl.o?/
• Rhymes: -æl??
• Hyphenation: shal?low

Adjective

shallow (comparative shallower, superlative shallowest)

1. Having little depth; significantly less deep than wide.

   This crater is relatively shallow.

   Saute the onions in a shallow pan.

2. Extending not far downward.

   The water is shallow here.

3. Concerned mainly with superficial matters.

   It was a glamorous but shallow lifestyle.

4. Lacking interest or substance.

   The acting is good, but the characters are shallow.

5. Not intellectually deep; not penetrating deeply; simple; not wise or knowing.

   shallow learning

   • The king was neither so shallow, nor so ill advertised, as not to perceive the intention of the French king.

6. (obsolete) Not deep in tone.
7. (tennis) Not far forward, close to the net.

Antonyms

• deep

Derived terms

• given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow

Translations

Noun

shallow (plural shallows)

1. A shallow portion of an otherwise deep body of water.

   The ship ran aground in an unexpected shallow.

   • dashed on the shallows of the moving sand
2. A fish, the rudd.
3. (historical) A costermonger's barrow.
   • 1871, Belgravia (volume 14, page 213)

     You might have gone there quite as easily, and enjoyed yourself much more, had your mode of conveyance been the railway, or a hansom, or even a costermonger's shallow.

Usage notes

• Usually used in the plural form.

Translations

See also

• shoal
• sandbar
• sandbank

Verb

shallow (third-person singular simple present shallows, present participle shallowing, simple past and past participle shallowed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make or become less deep.

References

Anagrams

• hallows

English

Etymology

From Middle English schelfe, probably from Old English s?ylfe (“deck of a ship”), distantly related to sculpt, carve and shell. Cognate to Dutch schelf.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??lf/
• Rhymes: -?lf

Noun

shelf (plural shelves)

1. A flat, rigid structure, fixed at right angles to a wall or forming a part of a cabinet, desk etc., and used to support, store or display objects.
   • 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "[1]," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012):

     Localities across New Jersey imposed curfews to prevent looting. In Monmouth, Ocean and other counties, people waited for hours for gasoline at the few stations that had electricity. Supermarket shelves were stripped bare.

2. The capacity of such an object

3. A projecting ledge that resembles such an object.
4. A reef, shoal or sandbar.

Synonyms

• (capacity): shelfful

Related terms

• shelve

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• ? Czech: šelf
• ? Irish: seilf
• ? Serbo-Croatian: š?lf, ?????
• ? Welsh: silff

Translations

References

• shelf on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Fehls, flesh

Middle English

Noun

shelf

1. Alternative form of schelfe