Word.ws English Dictionary

spoil-paper

spoil-paper noun: an unskilled writer.

Noun

spoil-paper (plural spoil-papers)

  1. (obsolete) An unskilled writer.
    • Certain persons have reproached the Author for knowing no more about the language of the olden times than hares do of telling stories. Formerly these people would have been vilified, called cannibals, churls, and sycophants, and Gomorrah would have been hinted at as their natal place. But the...1874 [1833], “Prologue [The Second Ten]”, in Droll Stories, translation of Les Cent Contes drolatiques by Honoré de Balzac, page 173
    Synonyms:
    blotter, feather-driver, hack, paper-blurrer, penster, squitter-pulp

Synonyms of spoil-paper

Forms of spoil-paper

pluralspoil-papers

Origin of spoil-paper

From spoil + paper. Possibly a calque of French guaste-papier.

Questions about spoil-paper

What does spoil-paper mean?
Spoil-paper means an unskilled writer.
What part of speech is spoil-paper?
Spoil-paper is a noun.
What is the plural of spoil-paper?
The plural of spoil-paper is spoil-papers.

Words near spoil-paper in the dictionary

  1. spoil someone rotten
  2. spoil the market
  3. spoil the ship for a ha'p'orth of tar
  4. spoil the ship for a hap'orth of tar
  5. spoil'd
  6. spoil-paper
  7. spoil-papers
  8. spoil-sport
  9. spoil-sports
  10. spoilability
  11. spoilable

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: spoil-paper (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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