dog-earn.
/ˈdɒɡɪə/, U.S. /ˈdɔɡˌɪ(ə)r/, /ˈdɑɡˌɪ(ə)r/ 1. The corner of the page of a book, etc., turned over or creased by repeated or careless use, or to mark a place. Usually in plural. Cf. dog's ear n. 1, dog-ear v.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > book > leaves or pages of book > [noun] > leaf > turned-over corner
dog's ear1627
dog-ear1871
1871 P. H. Fitzgerald Kembles II. xii. 209 Doubling down the book in dog-ears.
1901 H. B. Fuller Under Skylights 197 Daffingdon bit at the end of the penholder and made a dog-ear on the topmost of the steel-gray sheets.
1960 S. Becker tr. A. Schwarz-Bart Last of Just (1961) vi. 313 Apologize to her for me about page 37, where I made a dog-ear without thinking.
1978 Amer. Poetry Rev. Sept.–Oct. 43/3 He brought down The Auroras of Autumn with many dogears sticking out of it.
1994 S. Nugent Big Mouth ix. 161 The books..were..returned unmarked by dog-ears, underlining, or any blemishes indicating major outlays of midnight oil.
2. Surgery. A thickened triangular area or hump of skin typically resulting from mismatched closure of a skin wound.
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1895 Columbus Med. Jrnl. 14 70 The removal of the ‘dog-ears’ and suturing is essential.
1907 O. Horwitz Compend Surg. (ed. 6) 269 (caption) Removal of dog ear flaps from mucous membrane of foreskin in circumcision.
1940 Amer. Jrnl. Surg. 50 575/2 Skin flaps are not fashioned in the usual sense of the word except that a double curved incision is made to avoid the ‘dog ears’ at each corner.
1996 S. Burge et al. Simple Skin Surg. (ed. 2) v. 34 Small dog ears will settle in time and will be cosmetically acceptable.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
dog-earv.
/ˈdɒɡɪə/, U.S. /ˈdɔɡˌɪ(ə)r/, /ˈdɑɡˌɪ(ə)r/ transitive. To damage or disfigure (a book, magazine, etc.) by turning or folding down the corner of a page; (also) to mark (a page) by turning down a corner. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > book > [verb (transitive)] > turn down corner
dog's-ear1659
dog-ear1825
1825 Morning Chron. 9 Dec. Some of them [sc. the papers] he had torn in the margin, some he had dog-eared.
1856 E. B. Browning Aurora Leigh v. 219 As if she had fingered me and dog-eared me.
1886 J. R. Rees Diversions of Book-worm v. 174 [A] book..kept specially for Charles Lamb to finger and dog-ear when he came.
1903 Westm. Gaz. 8 Jan. 2/1 She dog-eared her book.
1940 R. Stout Over my Dead Body xi. 150 He..dog-eared a page and closed the book.
1952 J. M. Brown As they Appear 6 A book for me is something to be read... I want to dog-ear it, to underline it, to annotate it.
2005 T. Brookes Guitar 95 She dog-ears a couple of pages.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1871v.1825