top shelf
(Canada, ice hockey) The upper part of the goal.
Seen in the wild
Tuesday night when it's Taco Tuesday, Titty Tuesday AND Cinco de Mayo? The bottom-shelf bottles at the back of the bar are quaking with fear. The top shelf knows enough to be worried ... 'cause they're next. #Ta…
As ever Pete’s nonverbals are top shelf. Just watch on mute and use your best imagery to describe the attitude here.
that's a good height. places your forehead at ideal smooching level but you can also mostly reach the top shelf yourself
ha! reminds me when I was preparing to move house a couple of years ago I managed to knock a Pauline Kael book off the top shelf and the corner of it struck me full in the face, just missing my eye. Luckily it wasn't…
Putting the word "gentrified" on the top shelf until Tumblr users actually learn the meaning of words. It drives me nuts when people online complain about a certain idea/trope being overdone when they actually just l…
Definitions
(Canada, ice hockey) The upper part of the goal.
“Tuesday night when it's Taco Tuesday, Titty Tuesday AND Cinco de Mayo? The bottom-shelf bottles at the back of the bar are quaking with fear. The top shelf knows enough to be worried ... 'cause they're next. #TacoTuesday #TittyTuesday #CincoDeMayo #TuesdayNight”
— Bluesky· May 2026“As ever Pete’s nonverbals are top shelf. Just watch on mute and use your best imagery to describe the attitude here.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“that's a good height. places your forehead at ideal smooching level but you can also mostly reach the top shelf yourself”
— Bluesky· May 2026“ha! reminds me when I was preparing to move house a couple of years ago I managed to knock a Pauline Kael book off the top shelf and the corner of it struck me full in the face, just missing my eye. Luckily it wasn't a hardback.”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Putting the word "gentrified" on the top shelf until Tumblr users actually learn the meaning of words. It drives me nuts when people online complain about a certain idea/trope being overdone when they actually just live in a very specific bubble.”
— Bluesky· May 2026
Comments
(US, idiomatic) Best, or high quality.
I bought a bottle of top shelf whiskey.
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(British, idiomatic) Describing books, magazines, or movies that have adult content or softcore pornography.
Most of the band used to buy Autotrader to read on the various bus and plane journeys, but Barry would always turn up with a copy of Underwear Unlimited or some other seedy little top-shelf mag.
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