Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—O

On the Shelf

Passé, no longer popular, one of the “has-beens.” The reference is not to pawns laid on the shelf, but to books no longer read, and clothes no longer worn, laid by on the shelf.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
One-horse System
On the Loose
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