PENMAN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does penman mean? 

• PENMAN (noun)
  The noun PENMAN has 1 sense:

1. informal terms for journalists

  Familiarity information: PENMAN used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PENMAN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Informal terms for journalists

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

penman; scribbler; scribe

Hypernyms ("penman" is a kind of...):

journalist (a writer for newspapers and magazines)

Derivation:

penmanship (beautiful handwriting)

 Context examples 

Traddles, who would not have smiled for the world, replied composedly: “But you are a very good penman, sir. You told me so, Copperfield?” “Excellent!” said I. And indeed he was.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The feeble fingers were never idle, and one of her pleasures was to make little things for the school children daily passing to and fro, to drop a pair of mittens from her window for a pair of purple hands, a needlebook for some small mother of many dolls, penwipers for young penmen toiling through forests of pothooks, scrapbooks for picture-loving eyes, and all manner of pleasant devices, till the reluctant climbers of the ladder of learning found their way strewn with flowers, as it were, and came to regard the gentle giver as a sort of fairy godmother, who sat above there, and showered down gifts miraculously suited to their tastes and needs.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)