pencil pusher
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of pencil pusher
An Americanism dating back to 1880–85
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Villanelle, an elegant assassin excelled in her profession by being invisible; Eve's invisibility as a pencil pusher at MI5 made it easy for her peers to ignore her.
From Salon • Feb. 27, 2022
“I was the pencil pusher, doing a lot of research. My state of the art tools were a slide rule and a Frieden computer. We were taking the theoretical and making it real.”
From The Verge • Aug. 9, 2018
Clooney gained about 30 pounds in a month to play the pencil pusher.
From Washington Post • Jul. 28, 2015
“If you let that stuff get to you, you end up with a nine-to-five as a pencil pusher, stuck in traffic,” Lane told me.
From Slate • Nov. 7, 2011
"Hey, you pencil pusher," he called, "did you see the big boss?"
From The Story of General Pershing by Everett T.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
