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bookend

bookend

11 2.7
An object that holds books upright at the end of a shelf
  • noun
  • /ˈbʊkˌɛnd/
translation icon : sujetalibros
  • I used a decorative bookend to keep my novels upright on the shelf.
  • serve as bookends

And so you've got these two bookends, and it's through the tension.

Examples

  • Popular culture paraphernalia such as ashtrays, cream pitchers, bookends, candlesticks, and beaded cigarette lighters.

    Academic text (2002)
  • Old friends set on their park bench like bookends," sang Simon and Garfunkel.

    Blog text (25)
  • In this respect, it would seem to be the sort of perfect bookend to the Apology.

  • -I have the bookend you requested.

  • You at one end of the house, me at the other, like bookends, with silence in between.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • Those bookends are worth 3.95.

  • I used bronze bookends of hunting dogs to hold them upright.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • They'd have made a great set of bookends.

  • I wanna have a normal home with wallpaper and bookends.

  • Early Dylan and late Young provide bookends of the modern prophetic.

    Blog text (19)

How Heavy

doorstop
9 2.3
bookend
11 2.7
paperweight
21 3.0
paper clip
18 1.0

Surface Forms

bookend singular
bookends plural

Morphology

bookend = book + end (transparent) = book + end

Direct compound of 'book' + 'end' where the object is at the end of a row of books, so the meaning is clear from the parts.

Etymology

Bookend The word bookend is simply book + end, literally 'book' + 'end', and it names an object put at the 'end' of a row of books to keep them upright.