dog-eared

Definition

Of a page in a book or other publication: having its corner folded down, either due to having been read many times, or intentionally as a sort of bookmark.

Etymology

From dog + eared (“having ears (of a specified type)”), modelled after dog’s-ear (obsolete), due to the similarity of their appearance to the folded ears of certain dogs. The word is analysable as dog-ear (“to fold the corner of a book’s page”) + -ed (suffix forming possessional adjectives) (dog-ear is attested in print later than dog-eared).

Example Sentences

• "By thumbing to the dog-eared pages, she quickly found the items in the catalog she wanted to order."
• "The pages in his favourite book were dog-eared from years of reading it at bedtime."
• "There was the huge Italian cassone, with its fantastically painted panels and its tarnished gilt mouldings, in which he had so often hidden himself as a boy. There the satinwood book-case filled with his dog-eared schoolbooks."