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definitions

poster

1
[poh-ster]
See more synonyms for poster on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a placard or bill posted or intended for posting in a public place, as for advertising.
  2. a large print of a painting, photograph, etc., used to decorate a wall: posters of street scenes.
  3. a person who posts bills, placards, etc.
  4. Digital Technology. a person who posts or submits an online message to a message board: The previous poster in this thread was off-topic.

Origin of poster

1
First recorded in 1830–40; post1 + -er1

poster

2
[poh-ster]
noun
  1. post horse.
  2. Archaic. a person who travels rapidly.

Origin of poster

2
First recorded in 1595–1605; post3 + -er1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for poster

placard, sign, billboard, sheet, banner, sticker, handbill, announcement, notice, bill, signboard, broadside, affiche

Examples from the Web for poster

Contemporary Examples of poster

Historical Examples of poster

  • Now, a gent with special fine eyes might find that you looked like the gent on this poster.

  • He crumpled the poster and inserted it beneath the lid of his iron stove.

  • What would he, so fastidious as he was, think of that poster?

  • It was a poster on a high fence, and it had a black border around it.

    The Harbor

    Ernest Poole

  • Then he caught sight of Bibi-the-Smoker, who was also reading the poster.

    L'Assommoir

    Emile Zola

British Dictionary definitions for poster

poster

noun
  1. a large printed picture, used for decoration
  2. a placard or bill posted in a public place as an advertisement
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
Word Origin and History for poster
n.

"bill, placard, thing posted," 1838, from post (v.1). Poster boy/girl/child "someone given prominence in certain causes" is attested by 1990, in reference to fund-raising drives for charities associated with disability, featuring child sufferers, a feature since 1930s.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper