penny-a-liner

[pen-ee-uh-lahy-ner]

noun Chiefly British Archaic.

a hack writer.

Origin of penny-a-liner

1825–35; penny-a-line (of writing) paid for at the rate of a penny per line + -er¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for penny-a-liner

Historical Examples of penny-a-liner

You don't want me to be a penny-a-liner all my life, sweetheart, do you?
The Harmsworth Magazine, v. 1, 1898-1899, No. 2
Various
He is a music master, or a penny-a-liner, or a third-rate artist.
Daisy Miller
Henry James
The penny-a-liner has long been the butt of a heartless world.
About London
J. Ewing Ritchie
So that a philosopher may say we as well as a monarch or a penny-a-liner.
From the Oak to the Olive
Julia Ward Howe
Winter, go and bring joy to the heart of some penny-a-liner by giving him that item.
The Stowmarket Mystery
Louis Tracy

British Dictionary definitions for penny-a-liner

penny-a-liner

noun

rare a hack writer or journalist

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