blurb
[blurb]
- a brief advertisement or announcement, especially a laudatory one: She wrote a good blurb for her friend's novel.
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- to advertise or praise in the manner of a blurb.
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Origin of blurb
An Americanism dating back to 1910–15; allegedly coined by F. G. Burgess
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for blurb
Contemporary Examples
Even the patron saint of teenage girls, Judy Blume, is featured on the back cover with a blurb for the book.
I first read the book in galleys some months ago; the finished edition carries a blurb from me on the back cover.
Shteyngart sat down with The Daily Beast to discuss the book, the art of the blurb, and, yes, teaching James Franco.
Hipster Novelist Gary Shteyngart on Mentoring James FrancoGregory Gilderman, The Daily Beast Video
July 23, 2010
That first connection over a love of words convinced Goldstein to have her editor ask Pinker to blurb her next book.
Her first book, Poems, was published in 1944, with a blurb from Eliot, her editor at Faber.
Historical Examples
It—it's just the sort of thing we call a 'blurb,' Miss West!
KennyLeona Dalrymple
Herman had the wild thought that they were blurb writers whose jobs had gone to their heads.
Freudian SlipFranklin Abel
Front matter consisting of a blurb and a list of other publications by the author has been moved to the end of the text.
Storm Over WarlockAndre Norton
Matson read that blurb in an official press release and laughed cynically.
AssassinJesse Franklin Bone
blurb
- a promotional description, as found on the jackets of books
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Word Origin
C20: coined by Gelett Burgess (1866–1951), US humorist and illustrator
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for blurb
n.
used by U.S. scholar Brander Matthews (1852-1929) in 1906 in "American Character;" popularized 1907 by U.S. humorist Frank Gelett Burgess (1866-1951). Originally mocking excessive praise printed on book jackets.
Gelett Burgess, whose recent little book, "Are You a Bromide?" has been referred to above, then entertained the guests with some characteristic flashes of Burgessian humor. Referring to the word "blurb" on the wrapper of his book he said: "To 'blurb' is to make a sound like a publisher. The blurb was invented by Frank A. Munsey when he wrote on the front of his magazine in red ink 'I consider this number of Munsey's the hottest pie that ever came out of my bakery.' ... A blurb is a check drawn on Fame, and it is seldom honored.["] ["Publishers' Weekly," May 18, 1907]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper