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penny-a-liner

[pen-ee-uh-lahy-ner]
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noun Chiefly British Archaic.
  1. a hack writer.
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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

  • 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.

  • Winter, go and bring joy to the heart of some penny-a-liner by giving him that item.

British Dictionary definitions for penny-a-liner

penny-a-liner

noun
  1. rare a hack writer or journalist
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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