penny-a-liner

American  

[pen-ee-uh-lahy-ner] / ˈpɛn i əˈlaɪ nər /

noun

Chiefly British Archaic.

1. a hack writer.

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penny-a-liner British  

noun

1. rare a hack writer or journalist

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Etymology

Origin of penny-a-liner

1825–35; penny-a-line (of writing) paid for at the rate of a penny per line + -er ¹

Example Sentences

MacDonald was an old penny-a-liner, with 50 or 60 paperback thunderations behind him, before he began the Travis McGee series more than a decade ago.

From Time Magazine Archive

After a few disastrous jobs in the Manhattan jungle, the apprentice author be came a penny-a-liner for the pulps; since then he has banged out 70 novels and some 600 short stories.

From Time Magazine Archive

The death of an obscure penny-a-liner, like young Chatterton, made little noise at first.

From A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century by Beers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)

I didn’t expect the pleasure of seeing you, Roddy, my fine penny-a-liner.

From The Blue Wall A Story of Strangeness and Struggle by Child, Richard Washburn

Oh! my dear, much more than a penny-a-liner," corrected the Queen; "I heard of one correspondent who makes £5,000 a year.

From King John of Jingalo The Story of a Monarch in Difficulties by Housman, Laurence