dog-eared

See also: dogeared and dog eared

English

WOTD – 24 April 2022

Etymology

A book with a dog-eared page (sense 1).

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.[1] 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).[1]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɒɡɪəd/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔɡˌɪ(ə)ɹd/, /ˈdɑɡ-/
Audio (GA) (file)

Adjective

dog-eared (comparative more dog-eared, superlative most dog-eared)

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.
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.
- 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter 10, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.; Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., OCLC 34363729:
  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.
- 1921, Thomas Sigismund Stribling, “Chapter IV”, in Birthrigt:
  To the uninitiated it may seem strange to behold a Harvard graduate stuck down day after day poring over a pile of dog-eared school-books— third arithmetics, primary grammars, beginners' histories of Tennessee, of the United States, of England; physiology, hygiene. It may seem queer. But when it comes to standing a Wayne County teacher's examination, the specific answers to the specific questions on a dozen old examination slips are worth all the degrees Harvard ever did confer.
- 2002 September 19, Stephen Moss, “Don’t spare the horses – riders set off for hunt rally”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, ISSN 0261-3077, OCLC 229952407, archived from the original on 9 September 2014:
  Dog-eared tomes litter his sitting room, filled with lovely names – Sailor, Scandal, Saucebox, Starlight, Siren, to take a few from a random page of the directory for 1875.
(figuratively) Ragged, worn-out; also, hackneyed, tired.
- 1919, Francis Ledwidge, The Complete Poems of Francis Ledwidge, An Old Pain:
  This is the old, old pain come home once more,
  Bent down with answers wild and very lame
  For all my delving in old dog-eared lore
  That drove the Sages mad. And boots the world
  Aught for their wisdom?
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:deteriorated, Thesaurus:hackneyed
Antonyms: fresh, original; see also Thesaurus:new

Alternative forms

dogeared
dog eared (uncommon)
dog's-eared (obsolete)

Derived terms

dog-ear (verb) (a possible back-formation)

Related terms

dog-ear (noun)

Translations

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

French: corné (fr)
Hungarian: szamárfüles
Swedish: hundörad

ragged, worn-out; hackneyed, tired

French: écorné (fr)
Spanish: manoseado (es)

References

“dog-eared, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “dog-eared, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.