stop pressn.
/ˌstɒp ˈprɛs/, U.S. /ˌstɑp ˈprɛs/ Chiefly British.
Originally: †an act of stopping the printing of a particular issue of a newspaper, news magazine, etc., after it has begun in order to insert late news (obsolete). Hence: an article containing late news inserted after printing of a newspaper, etc., has begun, or (in later use) at the last moment before printing; (in extended use) a last-minute update.Apparently first attested in Irish sources.Often used as a heading for such items of late news (as in quots. 1846, 1915).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > printing > [noun] > run of press > interruption of
stop press1807
backlash1921
society > communication > journalism > journal > matter of or for journals > [adjective] > latest news
stop press1807
1807 Belfast Commerc. Chron. 23 Dec. 5/4 A stop press of most of the London Papers, contains the following official confirmation of the account, already published, of the departure of the Prince Regent of Portugal, for the Brazils.
1846 Cork Examiner 29 July (heading) Yesterday. Stop press... We stop the press to announce the melancholy intelligence that [etc.].
1849 Economist 21 July 804/1 Such a dismal catastrophe as is narrated in a ‘stop-press’ of the Newry Telegraph of Saturday.
1915 Grey Brigade 29 Apr. 4/3 (heading) Stop press. Brigadier's Cup. Final: London Scottish v. Queen's Westminsters.
1980 NOTA (Hawks Nest & Tea Gardens, New S. Wales) Mar. 18/4 By the time you are reading this, the Charlestown match will be well and truly over, but as we have no ‘Stop Press’ I will have to pass on the result next month.
2010 L. Wells Spiritual Slimming ii. 16 Oh, stop press! Have just had a phone call from her would you believe, she has enrolled on the course that she wanted to do.
2020 Bradford Tel. & Argus (Nexis) 4 Sept. It is incredible that in such a ‘low tech’ age, county cricket matches were reported on as they were happening, with late-afternoon scores in the stop press.
Compounds
General use as modifier; used esp. with reference to an edition of a newspaper, or a particular column or article, containing late news.
ΚΠ
1833 Aberdeen Jrnl. 16 Oct. The evening papers of Saturday contain an alarming stop-press article, headed—‘Civil War in Spain’.
1881 Manch. Evening News 17 Mar. 3 The stop-press edition of the Daily Chronicle says [etc.].
1902 E. W. Hornung Shadow of Rope 44 The matchless fascination of reading and re-reading five words in the stop-press column:—‘MINCHIN CASE—Verdict, Not guilty.’
1971 I. Jackson Provinc. Press & Community ii. 21 Evening newspapers are now printed earlier than formerly..; as a result, the main Parliamentary debates of the day must at best be briefly reported in the ‘stop press’ column.
2015 News (Portsmouth) (Nexis) 19 June They would stop you to buy a copy in order to see the latest stop-press horse racing results.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1807