shelfful

[ shelf-fool ]

noun

, plural shelf·fuls.

1. an amount adequate to fill a shelf:

   They buy canned goods by the shelfful.

2. the amount contained on a shelf:

   We gave away a shelfful of books.

Spelling Note

See -ful.

Word History and Origins

Origin of shelfful¹

First recorded in 1875–80; shelf + -ful

Example Sentences

Along with her Olympic medals, Bekatorou brought home four World Championship titles and a shelfful of national and European trophies.

From Washington Times

The overseas calls were killing me, so I invested in an atlas and a shelfful of almanacs and reference books.

From Literature

Over nearly half a century, Mrs. Maddox produced a shelfful of books, most of them biographies.

From Washington Post

The volume was the first in a shelfful of books about Paddington’s adventures and misadventures that sold tens of millions of copies and were translated into dozens of languages.

From Washington Post

In one window we had a shelfful of current books, open to attractive pictures, with a sign reminding wayfarers that they might be taken out by cardholders and that cards were free.

From Project Gutenberg