Link Centre Dictionary

blurb

UK/blɝ(ː)b/ US/ˈblɜrb/ uncommon

noun

1.

a promotional statement (as found on the dust jackets of books)

  • “the author got all his friends to write blurbs for his book”

Origin

Coined by American artist, art critic, poet, author and humorist Gelett Burgess in 1907 on a dust jacket at a trade association dinner. The dust jacket said “YES, this is a “BLURB”!” and featured a (fictitious) “Miss Belinda Blurb” shown calling out, described as “in the act of blurbing”.

Phrases

  • capsule review

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.