Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to dismiss from a job, to lose status.

1848		Sam Sly 23 Dec. 1/1: The woman who is dancing with him is Mary H—w—tt, who has been shelved by Andersen, the Swedish novelist, Mary having prigged his productions.
1898		Newcastle Courant 20 Aug. 5/4: As to the reasons why he had been thus ‘shelved,’ it was usually hinted [...] he was ‘ill-liked’.
1901		Franklin Times (Louisberg, NC) 11 Oct. 1/3: In 1898 Platt accepted him as candidate for governor [...] Then he shook him, at Philadelphia, when he shlved him.
1914		A. Brazil Leader of the Lower School 160: ‘Poppie barely tolerates Gipsy.’ ‘I agree with you there. She'd rejoice to see her shelved’ .
2024		C. Stella Joey Piss Pot 88: [of a Mafia boss deprived of his rank] ‘Carmine Montalvo has been shelved [...] Montalvo has no authority for anything going forward’.

2. (US und.) to imprison.

1867

Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 23 Nov. 2/2: Eddy Gilman, the old Sixth Ward ‘sneak’ and ‘stool pigeon,’ has been ‘shelved’ for two years.

3. (Aus./N.Z.) to inform (on someone) to the police, or any authority.

1906		Sun. Times (Perth) 18 Feb. 4/7: That cobber o’ yours is makin’ the pace a bit too solid. unless yer give ’im the chat ’e’ll ’ave ter be shelfed.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Nov. 16/2: Sometimes Meri has to be hurried off to the local hospital or cemetery as a result of the dusky doctor’s diagnosis. It is always a difficult thing to get a conviction against a tohungra, as even the nearest relations of a defunct Henare refuse to ‘shelf’ the medico.
1931		Eve. News (Rockhampton, Qld) 27 May 3/1: Crooks are ‘topped off’, or ‘shelved’ when. an informer secretly tells the pbllce where the culprits are to be found.
1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 97: And how is Jimmy [...] The guy that shelfed you when he was drunk.
1953		T.A.G. Hungerford Riverslake 20: Make another pie, and make it damn quick, and if you spoil this one I damned well will shelf you.
1968		J. Alard He who Shoots Last 28: ‘The kid’s been shelfed.’ Bricky slowly shook his head in amazement. ‘Who’d shelf a boy?’.
1974		H. Levin Bandiet 127: Gums [...] had a fight with a bandiet who wanted his body and who, not getting it, ‘shelfed’ him by planting boom in his cell.
1978		H.C. Bosman Street-Women in Gray Theatre One 16: I would never shelf a killer to the johns.
1982		G. Newbold Big Huey 131: After the three had left [...] the Dwarf had told Flower-Power about it [i.e. a threatened assault]. He’d shelfed them, in other words.
1989		R.G. Barratt ‘Wellington’s On the Other Foot’ in What Do You Reckon (1997) [ebook] I never went to the police. Being old school, I’m not into shelving people.
1992		Sydney Morn. Herald 14 Aug. 4/1: The detective [...] rang the armed robber’s wife [...] teling her he knew the ‘bloke that shelved him’.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 164/1: shelf v. 1 to inform upon.
2002		R.G. Barrett Mystery Bay Blues 247: George’s horrible mother shelved him to the wallopers.

4. (US) to terminate a relationship; to leave a job.

1928		W. Winchell Your Broadway & Mine 13 Dec. [synd. col.] A prosperous rag’s [...] chinema [sic] critic is shelving it.
1930		W. Winchell On Broadway 8 Jan. [synd. col.] She just shelved a Count for the horn-tooter.
1943		Panama City News-Herald (FL) 25 Aug. 5/1: A Bohemian belle [...] bought herself a bridegroom for $200, shelved him immediately after the ceremony and obtained a divorce.

5. (N.Z. prison) to convict on the basis of faked-up evidence.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 164/1: shelf v. 2 to convict a person by means of fabricated evidence.