copyboy

American

[kop-ee-boi] / ˈkɒp iˌbɔɪ /

noun

an employee who runs errands and carries copy from desk to desk in a newspaper office.

Etymology

Origin of copyboy

First recorded in 1885–90; copy + boy

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

After dropping out of law school at the University of Chicago, he stumbled into journalism as a copyboy at the City News Bureau, chasing police calls across the city.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 22, 2025

Maybe answering that question could be the Ph.D. thesis I was headed toward 66 years ago when I answered that ad for copyboy in the late, lamented sports department of the New York Times.

From Salon • Nov. 26, 2023

He became a copyboy at what then was International News Service and went to high school at night.

From Washington Post • Jul. 1, 2017

The paths that once took 16 year-old school-leavers from shopfloor to boardroom or from copyboy to newspaper editor are blocked.

From The Guardian • Jan. 8, 2013

A little after six thirty that evening, a copyboy walked in with a stack of papers.

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023