▪ I. poster1
(ˈpəʊstə(r))
[f. post v.1 + -er1.]
1. One who travels ‘post’, expeditiously, or swiftly. Also fig. Now rare or Obs.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. iii. 33 The weyward Sisters, hand in hand, Posters of the Sea and Land, Thus doe goe, about, about. 1651 Davenant Gondibert iii. vi. xxxviii, At this, Goltho alights as swiftly post As Posters mount. 1816 Keatinge Trav. I. Pref. 9 A poster of roads will write rapidly; a sick man querulously [etc.]. a 1845 Hood Lament of Toby i, O heavy day! O day of woe! To misery a poster. |
† 2. A messenger, a carrier of news.
Obs.| 1605 J. Melvill Diary (Wodrow Soc.) 606 The noble poster of newis athort the world. |
3. A post-horse.
| 1797 H. Newdigate Let. 9 July in A. E. Newdigate-Newdegate Cheverels (1898) xiii. 181 A good dinner..was ready to come upon Table when y⊇ Posters arrived. 1817 T. L. Peacock Melincourt iii, Mr. Hippy's travelling chariot was rattled up to the door by four high-mettled posters from the nearest inn. 1849 Thackeray Pendennis xv, There were no cattle, save the single old pair of posters. |
4. One who posts a letter.
| 1884 Manch. Exam. 11 June 5/4 It will be the duty of the officer in attendance to stamp the form with the office stamp, and hand it back to the poster. |
▪ II. poster2 (
ˈpəʊstə(r))
[f. post v.2 + -er1.] 1. One who posts or sticks up bills; a bill-poster.
| 1864 [see bill-poster s.v. bill n.3 11]. |
2. A placard posted or displayed in a public place as an announcement or advertisement.
pictorial poster or
picture poster, a placard consisting mainly of a picture or illustration.
| 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxx, We'll have posters out the first thing in the morning. 1861 Illustr. Lond. News 6 July 3/3 A most seditious ‘poster’ with which all the walls..were placarded. 1883 Black Shandon Bells viii, The poster, scarlet letters on a white ground, was effective. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 9 June 2/3 By his cartoon for a poster, ‘The Woman in White’, one of his biographers states that he [Fred. Walker] may be said to have started the fashion of artistic advertising in this country. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
poster art,
poster artist,
poster cloth,
poster-collector,
poster design,
poster-designer,
poster-designing,
poster-hoarding,
poster-making,
poster panel,
poster-pilfering;
poster-like adj.;
poster colour = poster paint;
poster-maniac, one who has a mania for collecting posters;
poster paint, an opaque paint with a water-soluble binder such as is used on posters;
poster paper, paper used in bills or posters;
poster session, a meeting of scientists at which their work is represented by displayed pictures (see
quot. 1977).
| 1920 Hardie & Sabin War Posters ii. 7 *Poster art and pictorial art have essentially different aims. 1974 Listener 28 Feb. 283/3 Shostakovich's Twelfth Symphony. ‘Poster art’ it may be; but if so, some more Russian posters, please. |
| 1896 Daily News 28 Nov. 6/1 Portraits of some of the leading *poster artists, with selections from their works. |
| 1899 Westm. Gaz. 11 Mar. 2/1 It is said..that the new custom of *poster-collecting causes persons to strip these designs from the walls when opportunity offers. |
| 1895 Chap-Book III. 471 For the benefit of *Poster Collectors a special edition of fifty copies has been printed on Japan paper. |
| 1925 Studio (Art & Publicity No.) Autumn (verso front cover), The ‘Kingsway’ *Poster Colours..supplied in Tubes and Glass Pots. 1973 Poster colour [see pop a. (n.8) 3]. |
| 1920 Hardie & Sabin War Posters ii. 14 The number of *poster designs from his hand is at least fifty. 1970 Oxf. Compan. Art 900/1 English poster design in the 20th c. varies between the illustrative..and the work of great merit done for Shell-Mex. |
| 1901 W. S. Rogers Bk. of Poster xix. 133 The standard of art-education amongst the *poster designers is higher than in this country. 1935 [see copy-writer]. 1954 T. Eckersley Poster Design 7 The illustrations in this book are by leading poster designers. |
| 1901 W. S. Rogers Bk. of Poster xix. 129 The scope of this work does not embrace the idea of treating the subject of *poster designing at any great length. 1933 L. Richmond Technique of Poster p. v, Poster designing is a serious but most interesting art. |
| 1906 Athenæum 9 June 710/1 Whose work amongst that of our own painters seemed somewhat abrupt and *posterlike. |
| 1895 Pall Mall G. 16 Dec. 8/1 An exquisitely clever and amusing design, that would take the blue ribbon, judged by the points of artistic *poster-making. |
| 1895 Standard 23 Nov. 5/1 There exist two or three catalogues raisonnés which are indispensable to the *postermaniac. |
| 1939 W. Clemence Man. Poster⁓craft xii. 92 Good quality flat *poster paints, thinned with a little turpentine..blend well, are smooth of application, and dry in excellent time and condition. 1974 I. Murdoch Sacred & Profane Love Machine 103 She..laid out his coloured pencils, his poster paints, brushes, water. |
| 1929 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 319/2 On the *poster panels of to-day, in the United States, may be seen the work of Harrison Fisher. |
| 1901 J. Beveridge Paper⁓makers' Pocket Bk. i. 26 German classification and sizes of papers..Affichenpapiere (thin *poster paper). 1959 R. Hostettler et al. Technical Terms Printing Industry (ed. 3) 130/2 Poster paper,..papier pour affiches. |
| 1976 Physics Bull. Aug. 335/3 Although it is clear that the technique derives from the scientific exhibition, the exact origin of *poster sessions is unknown. 1977 Sci. Amer. Apr. 51/2 (Advt.), All contributed ‘papers’ are to be given in poster sessions, where from a visual display one decides whether to stop and exchange thoughts person to person. |
▸
Computing. On a network,
esp. the Internet: a contributor to a mailing list, newsgroup, or other online forum.
| 1982Re: Read this with an Open Mind in net.jokes (Usenet newsgroup) 30 Apr. The data proc/transmission program was told many times before the chain finally reached the poster of the joke. 1989 Whole Earth Rev. (Nexis) Jan. 113 Anyone on Usenet can post an article to an unmoderated newsgroup, and within a few days it will propagate to every site subscribing to that newsgroup. Or, the poster can put geographic limits on distribution. 1993 Wired Feb. 122/4 Citadel [bulletin board system] can handle up to 500 users at a time and boasts a rapidly growing user base of over 18,000 posters. 1995 .net Feb. 58/1 The problem with newsgroups is that you always get a few posters who think they're miniature Oscar Wildes. 2001 R. Cellan-Jones Dot.bomb xi. 182 [The name] may be well known amongst the Islington media luvvies..but as far as most of the world's concerned it's ‘who..?’ was the opinion of a poster by the name of ‘Freesham’. |
▸
poster boy n. (a) a male appearing on a poster; a male pin-up;
(b) a male regarded as the epitome or ideal of a specified phenomenon, movement, cause, etc.;
freq. with
for,
of.
| 1946 N.Y. Times 14 Jan. 21/6 The 1946 March of Dimes ‘*poster boy’, 6-year-old Donald Anderson..arrived here yesterday..to spur the infantile paralysis drive. 1978 Newsweek (Nexis) 13 Mar. 58 And Shaun has ascended to superstardom as America's No. 1 poster boy by selling 5 million copies of his four pinups. 1985 Washington Post 10 Oct. b1/1 Fittingly, the eight-out save went to 230-pound Niedenfuer, who could be the poster boy for Love Handles and is affectionately known as Buffalo Head. 1996 B. Helgeland & C. Hanson L.A. Confid. (film transcript) (Buff rev. pages) 8 a (stage direct.) Exley is an up-and-comer. A police department poster boy. Burning with ambition. 2002 Mirror 18 Mar. 17/2 The poster boy of international terrorism. |
▸
poster child n. (a) a child appearing on a poster;
(b) a person or thing regarded as the epitome or ideal of a specified phenomenon, movement, cause, etc.;
freq. with
for,
of.
| 1938 Washington Post 18 June 6/7 The *poster children on the front blackboard stared down at me, helplessly. 1978 Washington Post Mag. 29 Jan. 16/2 Epiphany, you recall, was the preferred perception of the whole Vietnam era: of acid heads, patriots..schizophrenics (those poster children of the decade). 1995 Abilities (Toronto) Spring 2/2 Members of the media..have been subjected to the same messages over time: messages depicting people with disabilities as cute poster children, heroic athletes, or especially most recently, pitiable cripples. 2000 Builder & Engineer July 25/1 You'd have to be living in a cave not to have noticed that the building industry has become the poster child for the old economy. |
▸
poster girl n. (a) a female appearing on a poster; a female pin-up;
(b) a female regarded as the epitome or ideal of a specified phenomenon, movement, cause, etc.;
freq. with
for,
of.
| 1896 Washington Post 4 May 6/5 The *poster girls have scarlet eyes And yellow cheeks and purple hair, With brownish ears and greenish lips, In tints outre beyond compare. 1919 Times 1 Dec. 11/5 She talked to some of the girls near her, asking questions of their camp life, admired the attractive poster girls, and passed through all the rooms where the campers were at play or singing. 1985 Record (Bergen County, New Jersey) (Nexis) 16 July c12 Marcia Ramsay would be the perfect poster girl for coaches promoting high school track as a positive experience. 1996 Time 24 June 76/3 The 34-year-old host easily established herself as the poster girl of the campaign to clean up daytime talk. 2002 Glamour July 71/1 We live in an anything-goes era, surrounded by double-dare-you poster girls like Pamela Anderson, Madonna and the entire cast of Sex and the City. |
▪ III. poster3 Rugby Football.
(
ˈpəʊstə(r))
[f. post n.1 + -er1.] A ball that passes directly over the top of one of the goal-posts.
| 1867 Routledge's Handbk. Football 35 If the ball..rises directly over the end of one of the posts, it is called a poster, and is no goal. 1930 Times 14 Mar. 7/1 He played in three International matches, dropped a goal in two, and scoring [sic] a ‘poster’ in the other. |