penny a liner
Preserved but no longer current.
The old name for a con- tributor to the newspapers who was not on the staff and used to be paid a penny a line. As it was to his interest to "pad" as much as pos- sible the word is still used in a contemptuous way for a second-rate writer or newspaper hack.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “penny a liner” mean?
The old name for a con- tributor to the newspapers who was not on the staff and used to be paid a penny a line. As it was to his interest to "pad" as much as pos- sible the word is still used in a contemptuous way for a second-rate writer or newspaper hack.
Is “penny a liner” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.