copyboy

[kop-ee-boi]

noun

1. an employee who runs errands and carries copy from desk to desk in a newspaper office.

Word History and Origins

Origin of copyboy¹

First recorded in 1885–90; copy + boy

Example Sentences

After dropping out of law school at the University of Chicago, he stumbled into journalism as a copyboy at the City News Bureau, chasing police calls across the city.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Maybe answering that question could be the Ph.D. thesis I was headed toward 66 years ago when I answered that ad for copyboy in the late, lamented sports department of the New York Times.

Read more on Salon

He'd been a Daily News copyboy when the music columnist OD'd.

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A little after six thirty that evening, a copyboy walked in with a stack of papers.

Read more on Literature

He tells an anecdote about something foolish he did when he was a copyboy, then famously says, “Just wanted you to know I’ve done dumber things than get us lost, that’s all.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times