penny-a-liner

[ pen-ee-uh-lahy-ner ]

/ ˈpɛn i əˈlaɪ nər /

noun Chiefly British Archaic.

a hack writer.

Words nearby penny-a-liner

penny saved is a penny earned, a, penny shares, penny stock, penny whistle, penny wise and pound foolish, penny-a-liner, penny-ante, penny-dreadful, penny-farthing, penny-pinching, penny-wise

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for penny-a-liner

"Clear enough, I think," said Van, when I raised my eyes from the protracted periods of the penny-a-liner.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 62, No. 384, October 1847|Various
That aspiration and fervor are now so much the rule that the least penny-a-liner can judge the new poet?
The Journal of Arthur Stirling|Upton Sinclair
The penny-a-liner has long been the butt of a heartless world.
About London|J. Ewing Ritchie
Mr. Hughes speaks, in the style of a penny-a-liner, of Tennyson's "amazing and unparalleled popular influence."
Flowers of Freethought|George W. Foote

Motherhood to-day is on the lips of every penny-a-liner, every social patchworker and political climber.
The Social Significance of the Modern Drama|Emma Goldman

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

penny-a-liner

noun Chiefly British Archaic.

Content related to penny-a-liner

Words nearby penny-a-liner

Origin of penny-a-liner

Examples from the Web for penny-a-liner

British Dictionary definitions for penny-a-liner

noun