headliny

comparative headlinier · superlative headliniest · alternative headliney

1. informalResembling or characteristic of a headline (the heading or title of an article); typical of or incorporating headlinese.

   The president [Franklin D. Roosevelt] turned aside a query as to whether [Winston] Churchill seemed confident that Britain could win without American help with the observation that the question was “headliny” without having sufficient substance.

   1941 August 20, “Via Siberia and Middle East: U. S. Reported Ready to Fly Warplanes to Russia […]”, in Minneapolis Star Journal, volume LXIII, number 252, Minneapolis, Minn., →OCLC, page 7, columns 1–2

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   The welcome in N.Z. was deeply touching. I do think it wonderful to find such burning loyalty nowadays, and what a mental rest to find serious, well written newspapers. One had forgotten how vulgar ours have become, & it was quite a shock to return here to the headliny, gossipy, untruthful kind of writing.

   1958 February 18, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, “18 February 1958 to Queen Elizabeth II”, in William Shawcross, editor, Counting One’s Blessings: The Selected Letters of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, London: Macmillan, published 2012, →ISBN, page 499

   On the other hand Elliott now plays down the relationship between his father and Lucy Mercer, which added a note of tasteless sensationalism in “An Untold Story.” This book [A Rendezvous with Destiny] is markedly more objective, less headliny than its predecessor.

   1975 December 11, John Barkham, “Books in the News: Elliott Roosevelt Writes of His Father”, in Wichita Falls Record News, home edition, volume LVI, number 39, Wichita Falls, Tex., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 10C, column 1

2. informalHitting the headlines; (worthy of) having or being given headlines.

   Doak rung up a two-bagger, but his gardening in the alfalfa was not of the headliny variety.

   1910 June 26, “‘Peevish Plaints’”, in The Morning Star, volume LXXXVI, number 83 (13,331 overall), Wilmington, N.C., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2, column 2

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   The Opposite Sex, as Ring Lardner has nicknamed it or them, has drawn its share of competitive glory in other seasons. The advance has been steady and sure. And for the remainder of the summer, with the arrival of Mlle Lenglen and Miss Leitch, the female of the species will be about as headlinier as the male. In Suzanne Lenglen of France, and Cecil Leitch of England, those who esteem sport in any form will see the two most famous women stars that ever strode beneath the spotlight.

   1921 July 24, Grantland Rice, “The Sportlight”, in Springfield Sunday Republican, Springfield, Mass., →OCLC, page 3 B, column 4

   IT has been such a headliny week, what with [Nikita] Khrushchev and all, events moving swiftly, frenzied activity in a wide variety of fields, action and reaction, tests, blasts, notes and comments that nobody except the Alsop Brothers seem to be able to make head or tail of it in the modest compass of a small column.

   1961 September 2, Silenus [pseudonym], “Before the Judge: No Smoking”, in Victoria Daily Times, volume 128, number 205, Victoria, B.C., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 5, column 1

   ANYONE NOTICED that denominational conventions are much less “headliny” this year than last? It seems to some like a reaction against several years of rugged controversy in which the church was thrown headlong into the maelstrom of conflict, which has tended to divide the nation. Perhaps a more accurate description would be that this is a year for the churches to digest and absorb the momentous events of recent years.

   1970 June 20, Les Rodney, “Briefly …: A Baptist Credo, Methodist Golden Couples, Presbyterians & ‘Tongues’”, in Independent Press-Telegram, volume 14, number 20, Long Beach, Calif., →OCLC, page B-5, column 7

3. informalResembling, characteristic of, or worthy of being a headline or headliner (the top-billed attraction or performer).

   The headliners, Tony Bennett, Dick Shawn, and June Valli, were never headlinier. [And they get paid three times their normal night club fee!]

   1956 December 12, Herb Lyon, “Tower Ticker”, in Chicago Daily Tribune, volume CXV, number 297, Chicago, Ill., →ISSN, →OCLC, part 3, page 8, column 7

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   Gee Gee James was again on the bill, to the great disgust of the local critics, who have failed to see anything headliny about her work, while George Wiltshire was a jocose M.C.—but only got by because of the splendid support of Apus Brooks, the blackface shorty, who held him up, and carried him over.

   1932 November 12, The Sideliner [pseudonym], “Washington’s Famous U. Street Rivals 7th. Avenue in Harlem for Hot Doings”, in The Afro-American, 42nd year, number 7, Baltimore, Md., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 22, column 1

   Jean Parker, usually associated with film productions, is the headline as far as “name” billing goes. But inasmuch as Miss Parker, and her helpmate, Ralph Sanford, are occupied, with small success, in making Jean Parker a comedienne attraction, one must look elsewhere for headlinier talent. This being the case, the roller-skate team of Gaynor and Ross succeed to this week’s distinction.

   1943 November 12, “New Stage Show at the Capitol”, in The Evening Star, 91st year, number 36,353, Washington, D.C., →ISSN, →OCLC, pages B—17, column 4