top shelf

adj, noun — 3 senses

top shelf

adj

Etymology * (US: best, or high quality): Possibly from the higher quality, thus more expensive, thus less often used liquors being stored on the less accessible top shelf behind a wet bar. * (British: material with adult content): Such material is often stored on the top shelf in a newsagent's shop, where it is both less visible and harder to reach without being seen.

1

US, Idiomatic Best, or high quality.

  • I bought a bottle of top shelf whiskey.
2

UK, 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.2008, Rick Wakeman, Martin Roach, Grumpy Old Rock Star, →ISBN, page 83:

top shelf

noun

Etymology * (US: best, or high quality): Possibly from the higher quality, thus more expensive, thus less often used liquors being stored on the less accessible top shelf behind a wet bar. * (British: material with adult content): Such material is often stored on the top shelf in a newsagent's shop, where it is both less visible and harder to reach without being seen.

1

Hobbies, Ice hockey, Lifestyle, Skating, Sports Canada The upper part of the goal.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.