paper-pusher

[ pey-per-poosh-er ]

/ ˈpeɪ pərˌpʊʃ ər /

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noun Informal.

a person who has a routine desk job.

a bureaucrat.

QUIZ

WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?

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Question 1 of 7

Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.

Also called pa·per-shuf·fler

[pey-per-shuhf-ler]. /ˈpeɪ pərˌʃʌf lər/.

OTHER WORDS FROM paper-pusher

paper-pushing, adjective

Back when Sam went upstate, job searches required nothing more than a typewriter, some paper, and the classifieds.
His First Day Out Of Jail After 40 Years: Adjusting To Life Outside|Justin Rohrlich|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
“We would just as soon stay away from a group that will create controversy,” the Cubs general manager Sam Bernabe told the paper.
The Louisiana Racists Who Courted Steve Scalise|Jason Berry|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The reality TV mogul bared her butt—and everything else, too—for Paper Magazine in a spread that sent Twitter into a tizzy.
Kim Kardashian Cheekily Breaks the Internet|Kevin O’Keeffe|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Fold the parchment paper with the dry ingredients in half and pour into the stand mixer.
Make ‘The Chew’s’ Carla Hall’s Sticky Toffee Pudding|Carla Hall|December 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Place the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt on parchment or wax paper.
Make ‘The Chew’s’ Carla Hall’s Sticky Toffee Pudding|Carla Hall|December 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Even as they gazed they saw its roof caught up, and whirled off as if it had been a scroll of paper.
The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne
A small book, bound in full purple calf, lay half hidden in a nest of fine tissue paper on the dressing-table.
Hilda Lessways|Arnold Bennett
Bits of paper blew aimlessly about, wafted by a little, feverish breeze, which rose in spasms and died away.
Bella Donna|Robert Hichens
The Spaniards since have substituted paper for the leaves of maize, in imitation of them.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
"Buy something for your wife that-is-to-be," he said to his grand-nephew, as he handed him the folded paper.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills