pencil pusher

See also: pencil-pusher

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

US origin, 1881.[1][2]

Noun

pencil pusher (plural pencil pushers)

  1. (informal, often derogatory) One who does routine office work; someone involved mainly in paperwork.
    Synonyms: office worker, bureaucrat, desk jockey, paper-pusher, pen-pusher
    • 2012, Danielle Steel, The Sins of the Mother, Random House, →ISBN, page 285:
      “ […] I don't have her creative genius or her version. I'm a numbers man, like my father. A pencil pusher, as Amanda said.” With no balls, he added silently.
    • 2013, Karin Slaughter, Busted, Random House, →ISBN:
      The internal investigator for the Macon Police Department had the dour, lifeless personality of a career pencil pusher.

Translations

See also

References
  1. Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “pencil”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. Eric Partridge (2005) “pencil-pusher”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volumes 2 (J–Z), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 1462.
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