quill-driver

noun

A clerk or hack writer; a pen-pusher.

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Meanings

nounquill-driver (plural quill-drivers)

plural quill-drivers

  1. colloquialA clerk or hack writer; a pen-pusher.

    He wouldn't be terrified with a pack of lies by a cocky half-bred little quill-driver.

    1900, Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim, page v. 36
    2 more examples

    His brother, enraged at this insult, spoke to him very freely, which he returned no otherwise than by calling him quill-driver, and maccaroni of Mincing-lane.

    1791, Charlotte Smith, Celestina, Broadview, published 2004, page 263

    Passenger.—What o'clock is it? Mr. Adams.—That's not proper language for a ship. It becomes only a quill-driver, a grass-comber, or a sugar-baker.

    1803, John Davis, Travels of Four Years and a Half in the United States of America: During 1798, 1799, 1800, 1801, and 1802, page 439
Cite this entry
APA

quill-driver. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quill-driver

MLA

“quill-driver.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quill-driver. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “quill-driver,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quill-driver.

Source: quill-driver on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.