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to bookend

to bookend

3 5.4
To put something at the start and end to frame it
  • verb
  • /ˈbʊkˌɛnd/
translation icon : enmarcar
  • We started our presentation with an overview and bookended it with a summary of key points.
  • bookended by two
  • story bookended

It's this brief window of consciousness bookended by two eternities of nothing.

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Examples

  • By bookending their letters with such messages, scribes reinforce fairly broad religious beliefs in ways that would appeal to almost any Anabaptist reader, regardless of sect.

    Academic text (2016)
  • It would have been two states bookending America with marriage equality.

  • The Seattle years were bookended by the Boston years.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • So your weekends, your weeks are bookended by the basement boys.

  • It's this brief window of consciousness bookended by two eternities of nothing.

  • But that is what you get if you have a campaign which is, let's say, bookended by two election debates perhaps a fortnight apart.

  • From 1995 (my first) through 2001 (his last), I shared his space, with each of our contributions bookending the central articles of this magazine.

    Academic text (2002)
  • The album begins and ends with tidal waves of sound, bookending a deliberate and reserved center.

    Blog text (9)
  • The 1960s are bookended by the two most iconic events of the Space Race: Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person in space in 1961 and Neil Armstrong landing on the moon in 1969.

    Academic text (2017)
  • The four-play, 75-yard drive was bookended by Woods' 31-yard grab and Nelson Agholor's 33-yard touchdown.

    Blog text (26)

Surface Forms

bookend infinitive
bookended past
bookended past participle
bookending present participle
bookends third person singular

Etymology

Bookend As a verb, bookend comes from the noun bookend; imagine two bookends around a group of things, so to bookend an event is to put items at the beginning and at the end to 'frame' what is in the middle.