Bookend

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A weighted object placed at the ends of a row of books to keep them upright ; something that serves to frame or mark the start or finish of a series or event
2. An item used to prevent books from falling by stabilizing them on a shelf ; an element that acts as a boundary or marker at both the beginning and the conclusion
3. A support piece put at the edges of books to hold them in place ; an occurrence or component that functions to enclose or bracket a sequence or grouping

Etymology: A bookend is, quite literally, the end of a book: the word combines "book" and "end," and the compound's most obvious sense, the piece that props up a row of books on a shelf, is a physical extension of that idea. The "end" here is the outer edge of a row of volumes, and the support stands at that edge to keep the books upright. The compound's two parts are both ordinary English words, so the term is a transparent formation rather than a borrowing or a coinage with a famous originator. It works as a noun and as a verb, and the verb sense ("to flank or enclose something between two supports or two points") grew naturally out of the noun, since bookends hold things in place from either side.

Synonyms: support, endpiece, holder