off the shelf

off the shelf

Ready made for purchase from available stock; not custom built or crafted. Often hyphenated. We use our own custom software, so we can offer much more precision than what you can find off the shelf. While many off-the-shelf hearing aids are inexpensive, they are much more prone to failure than those prescribed by a doctor.
See also: off, shelf
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

off the shelf

Fig. ready made for purchase; not custom-made. (Hyphenated when prenominal.) I generally buy off-the-shelf clothing. I am a perfect size eight.
See also: off, shelf
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

off the shelf

Ready-made, available from merchandise or in stock, as opposed to a special order. For example, Sometimes you can get a better discount by buying an appliance off the shelf. [First half of 1900s] Also see off the rack; on the shelf.
See also: off, shelf
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

off the shelf

not designed or made to order but taken from existing stock or supplies.
See also: off, shelf
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

off-the-shelf

mod. readily available; purchasable without any special difficulties or delays. This is just plain old off-the-shelf hand lotion. Isn’t it great?
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

off the shelf

From ready-made merchandise in stock: supplies that were available off the shelf.
See also: off, shelf
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
See also:
  • off-the-shelf
  • get (something) off the shelf
  • buy (something) off the shelf
  • buy, get, etc. something off the shelf
  • shelf
  • Eve's custom house
  • custom
  • made to order
  • jump the besom
  • to the manner/manor born
References in periodicals archive
The Off the Shelf chocolate range with UTZ Certified label comes in 10kg boxes and is available to customers in Cargill's milk, dark and white signature chocolate suitable for applications including bakery, confectionery and ice cream.
Off the Shelf Chocolate
However, off the shelf systems can be limited in terms of performance, and businesses often find themselves working around the software instead of the software working round them.
Unless the company has some amazingly unique scenario (that would not have been picked up by the thousands of off the shelf solutions) many companies can buy a suitable off-the-shelf solution that is the result of hundreds of thousands of man-hours of development and fine tuning.
Bespoke versus off the shelf software
These off the shelf ERP solutions are vertically oriented, and built from the ground-up to support the end-to-end processes that allow manufacturers to more effectively manage complexity and control budget.
Benefits of Off the Shelf Enterprise Resource Planning Systems Revealed by Microsoft Dynamics Provider To-Increase
Simon said of the festival: "Off the Shelf started as a small but determined festival 19 years ago, but it is now up there with the Edinburgh Book Festival and Hay-on-Wye.
Simon's Off the Shelf read; Poetry
Off The Shelf is about three mature women looking for love and their scrapes with the opposite sex.
Play Off to super start
Alcan gladly accepted 'Off the Shelf' category Gold award for its Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Potato Crisp packets and the Silver award for its Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Parsnip and Black Pepper Crisp snacks.
And the winner is ..
To stay competitive with off the shelf awards, RBD has developed a highly efficient process which has eliminated up to 50% of the cost of producing a custom product.
Recognition by Design (RBD) Announces Increased Services, Custom "One UP" Awards
Off the Shelf is launching its 19th festival year, hosting worldrenowned names as well as celebrating local talent in Sheffield.
Simon goes Off the Shelf
PeopleSoft USA, Inc., Bethesda, Md., is being awarded a $6,560,812 firm-fixed-price contract to provide a DoD wide enterprise license for Commercial Off The Shelf Human Resources software in support of the Defense Integrated Military Human Resources System (Personnel/Pay) (DIMHRS Pers/Pay) program.
PeopleSoft USA, Inc