printer's devil
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of printer's devil
First recorded in 1755–65
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.
Twelve-year-old Nellie had served the family enterprise as a volunteer printer’s devil; now she launched a weekly paper called the Penfield Extra, which soon earned widespread fame as Little Nellie’s Little Paper.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
My newspaper career began at age 16 as a printer’s devil — cleaning presses, melting Linotype lead — for the weekly Ojai Valley News.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2024
Hubbs started as a printer’s devil with the Reeves County Record.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 13, 2018
“Why, I’m going to have my uncle sent to the penitentiary, along with his publisher and his press agent and the whole crew, down to the merest printer’s devil who carried the blasted type.”
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 13, 2017
The term "printer's devil" for the errand boy in a printing office probably combines this idea with that of his being black with ink.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 3 "Destructors" to "Diameter" by Various
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.
