What does spoil-paper mean?
Spoil-paper means (obsolete) An unskilled writer..
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Pronunciation varies by accent · noun
(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 Author consents to spare them the flowery epithets of ancient criticism; he contents himself with wishing not to be in their skin, for he would be disgusted with himself, and esteem himself the vilest of scribblers thus to calumniate a poor little book which is not in the style of any spoil-paper of these times.
Use spoil-paper when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Spoil-paper means (obsolete) An unskilled writer..
Common synonyms include blotter, feather-driver, hack, paper-blurrer.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
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 Author consents to spare them the flowery epithets of ancient criticism; he contents himself with wishing not to be in their skin, for he would be disgusted with himself, and esteem himself the vilest of scribblers thus to calumniate a poor little book which is not in the style of any spoil-paper of these times.
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