bookend

American  

[book-end] / ˈbʊkˌɛnd /

noun

1. a support placed at the end of a row of books to hold them upright, usually used in pairs.

2. one of two things occurring or located at either end of something else.

   two events that served as bookends to my career.

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verb (used with object)

1. to occur or be located at the beginning and end of.

   His term in office was bookended by crises.

Etymology

Origin of bookend

First recorded in 1905–10; book + end ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bookend

A pair of self-portraits bookend “Fairfield Porter: What Everyone Knows.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

I like to bookend my day with a quiet chess game in the morning and another quiet game at night.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026

We bookend this week with a couple of primaries to watch in Texas on Tuesday—beyond the Senate primaries, as you already know to watch those.

From Slate ● Feb. 28, 2026

The initial reaction to Zscaler’s earnings put the stock on course to bookend the week with sharp declines—who’d be a software investor?

From Barron's ● Feb. 27, 2026

To their colleagues, Rutherford and Lawrence would be known as “the two Ernests,” and their work would bookend an epochal quest for knowledge of the natural world.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik