Grub Street

American  

noun

1. a street in London, England: formerly inhabited by many impoverished minor writers and literary hacks; now called Milton Street.

2. petty and needy authors, or literary hacks, collectively.

---

Grub Street British  

noun

1. a former street in London frequented by literary hacks and needy authors

2. the world or class of literary hacks, etc

---

adjective

1. (sometimes not capital) relating to or characteristic of hack literature

Example Sentences

Much of the concern surrounding AI slop is overwrought, as low-quality mass-produced content has consistently accompanied technological innovation throughout history, from the printing press to Grub Street publications in the 1700s.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 5, 2025

The cronut officially became a major hit when Hugh Merwin wrote a glowing review of the dessert in New York Magazine's food and restaurant blog, Grub Street.

From Salon • Nov. 26, 2023

As the food blog Grub Street pointed out in 2019, some fanatics say it’s all about the tomatoes, while others maintain bacon is the VIP.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 31, 2021

Chris Crowley, a writer for New York Magazine’s Grub Street, wrote that it “always felt like a perfect location for a shopping scene gone wrong in a zombie apocalypse movie.”

From New York Times • Jul. 21, 2021

Like Johnson, in his Grub Street days, he will have his hours when bitterness passes into self-abandonment, and he will sound the depths of that world of corruption which in his better moods he loathes.

From Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius by Dill, Samuel