dog's-eared

My brother and I might cut up stepladders without scruple; to have thumbmarked or dog's-eared a book would have filled us with shame.

Surprised by Joy Lewis, C. S. 1955

It is thumbed, dog's-eared, pencil-marked, worn by much perusal.

Sermons Preached at Brighton Third Series Frederick W. Robertson

She dog's-eared them till the whole twenty looked blue;

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 13, No. 375, June 13, 1829 Various

The coldest welcome that a threadbare curate ever got at the door of a bishop's palace, the most icy reception that a country-cousin ever received at the city-mansion of a mushroom millionnaire, is agreeably tepid, compared to that which the Rhadamanthus who dooms you to the more or less elevated circle of his inverted Inferno vouchsafes, as you step up to enter your name on his dog's-eared register.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 62, December, 1862 Various

In one dug-out there was -- of all books -- a copy of Ruskin's _Sesame and Lilies_, tattered and dog's-eared by constant use, and a torn piece of -- the _Sporting Times_!

With Our Army in Palestine Antony Bluett

Literary appreciations, that were to have sent the ball of fame spinning up the hill of criticism, grew frowsy and dog's-eared with many postages to and fro.

Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 103, September 24, 1892 Various

She pulled out a dog's-eared letter from her reticule, and he read aloud: --

The Ladies A Shining Constellation of Wit and Beauty

A rupture with Phillips, almost inevitable, set Borrow wandering, and very soon he became acquainted with the old fruit-woman who found a valid defence for theft in the history of "the blessed Mary Flanders," a dog's-eared volume of "Moll Flanders," wherein Borrow found "the air, the style, the spirit of the writer of the book" which first taught him to read -- Defoe, of course.

Souvenir of the George Borrow Celebration Norwich, July 5th, 1913 James Hooper

We have all tasted the fruit of that pleasant sojourn; "Columbus" is on every library-shelf; and we remember a certain dog's-eared copy of the

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 80, June, 1864 Various

He went to a cupboard and produced a very battered, dog's-eared old blue book.

What Happened to the Corbetts Shute, Nevil, 1899-1960 1939