dime novel
a cheap melodramatic or sensational novel, usually in paperback and selling for ten cents, especially such an adventure novel popular c1850 to c1920.
Origin of dime novel
1Words Nearby dime novel
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use dime novel in a sentence
But nor do they go for the dime-novel fabulism like Lipsyte's Times battery mate Arthur Daley.
"Thank you," returned Average Jones, enormously entertained by the dime-novel setting which his host had provided for him.
Average Jones | Samuel Hopkins AdamsYou ran away like a boy in a dime novel, just because you couldn't stand having anything go wrong.
Harper's Round Table, October 1, 1895 | VariousNo dime-novel scout was ever more unerring in his aim than I would be if I could only get another aim.
Cruisings in the Cascades | George O. ShieldsThese men usually don a costume like that of the hero of a dime novel.
Frontier Folk | George Booth
"I never read a dime-novel in my life," she interrupted, indignantly.
The Foolish Virgin | Thomas Dixon
British Dictionary definitions for dime novel
US (formerly) a cheap melodramatic novel, usually in paperback: Also called (esp Brit): penny-dreadful
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
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