Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who works with a quill or pen; a scrivener; a clerk.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word quill-driver.

Examples

  • When the art of printing was discovered, many a quill-driver was reduced to starvation.

    Pillars of Society 2008

  • When the art of printing was discovered, many a quill-driver was reduced to starvation.

    Pillars of Society 2008

  • Aune: Would you have admired the art so greatly if you had been a quill-driver in those days, sir?

    Pillars of Society 2008

  • Aune: Would you have admired the art so greatly if you had been a quill-driver in those days, sir?

    Pillars of Society 2008

  • A mere cashier — a quill-driver, a — well, a man like me — even he has a little of what is called feeling, you know.

    A Doll's House 2006

  • A mere cashier — a quill-driver, a — well, a man like me — even he has a little of what is called feeling, you know.

    A Doll's House 2006

  • Suddenly behind my back some ass blew his nose with great force, and at the same time another quill-driver jumped up and went out on the landing hastily.

    Falk, by Joseph Conrad 2004

  • For the good solicitor had spent some time in the chambers of a famous conveyancer in London, and prided himself upon deducing title, directly, exhaustively, and yet tersely, in one word, scientifically, and not as the mere quill-driver.

    Mary Anerley Richard Doddridge 2004

  • And first, as I know she has a fervent wish to see me a quill-driver, I must tell her that I begin, as people are wont to do, to look upon my future profession with great partiality.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 38, December, 1860 Various

  • Don't you be alarmed, old quill-driver, they'll never run a strike of that kind for more than a day.

    Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 104, January 14, 1893 Various

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • (noun) - (1) A scrivener, a clerk; satirical phrase similar to "steel bar driver," a tailor.

    --John Hotten's Slang Dictionary, 1887

    (2) A clerk, scribe, or hackney writer. Brother of the quill, an author.

    --Francis Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1796

    January 17, 2018