pencil-pushingn.
/ˈpɛnslˌpʊʃɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈpɛnsəlˌpʊʃɪŋ/ Chiefly North American.
= pen-pushing n.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > work > [noun] > office or clerical work
office worka1678
desk1796
stool1836
desk-work1864
pencil-pushing1883
pen-pushing1906
1883 Freeborn County Standard (Albert Lea, Minnesota) 27 Sept. 5/2 He must not dream—he must..ride home on his hard earned pass and proceed with pencil pushing.
1954 Jrnl. Southern Hist. 20 418 That sometimes dull and forbidding term ‘administration’ encompasses much more..than..bureaucratic pencil-pushing.
1993 P. E. Trudeau Mem. (1995) i. 79 Lester Pearson wanted to make me his parliamentary secretary... I vaguely expected some modest parliamentary chores and some pencil-pushing; he sent me running around the world.
2004 N.Z. Herald (Nexis) 10 Feb. We'd consigned all these bright young people into years of drudgery and pencil-pushing.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
pencil-pushingadj.
/ˈpɛnslˌpʊʃɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈpɛnsəlˌpʊʃɪŋ/ Chiefly North American.
= pen-pushing adj.
ΚΠ
1875 Waukesha County (Wisconsin) Democrat 9 Jan. 1/2 The pleasure-seeker, the pencil-pushing correspondent, the embryonic historian..all visit these rooms.
1902 More Ex-Tank Tales 155 If the bunch..ever find out that I've got a pencil-pushing aide de camp from Cairo..I can see my finish.
1967 Harlan (Iowa) New Advertiser 13 Mar. 12/4 Slick-haired, white-collared, cake-eating, pencil-pushing people.
2002 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) (Nexis) 26 Sept. 4 A pencil-pushing research analyst drafted into saving the world from nuclear annihilation.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1883adj.1875