pen-pusher

plural pen-pushers · alternative pen pusher · alternative penpusher

1. derogatoryinformaloftenA person who performs routine office work, involving mainly paperwork.

   A pen-pusher in a Sixth ave. office said a coal miner is paid well. I asked him if he ever dug coal. Oh no!

   1925 June 21, “Letters: Miners Well Paid?”, in Pittsburgh Press, retrieved 21 Aug 2010

   2 more examples

   "I had to prove to people who were unimportant, who'd never achieved anything in their lives—the administrator, the pen-pusher—that I could fight."

   1988 Aug. 28, Trip Gabriel, Russia's Troubled Superstar," New York Times (retrieved 21 Aug 2010)

   Investors may have a lopsided view of the company’s reputation simply because an uncaring pen pusher in the finance department responded lethargically to an investor’s query.

   2007 July 12, Ramanujam Sridhar, “A time to change”, in Hindu BusinessLine, India, retrieved 21 Aug 2010

   Synonyms: bureaucrat, pencil pusher