blurb meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

blurb

noun

/blɝ(ː)b/

Etymology 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”.

A short description of a book, film, or other work, written and used for promotional purposes.

In a few weeks, blurbs would come back; a few, or many, depending on the book. There were certain writers we knew were always good for a blurb: Louis Untermeyer would always come through — poetry, fiction, humor — whatever, he'd send a well‐turned commendation.1978 July 23, William Cole, “The Blurb and I”, in The New York Times:

Derived terms: blurbification, blurbist

blurb

verb

To write or quote in a blurb.

When Rene Rodriguez of The Miami Herald blogged about having seen and loved “The Departed” in Toronto in a supposedly private screening last fall, Warner Brothers “scolded me very strongly,” he said, “but they still blurbed a line from my blog in their opening ad.”2007 July 4, David M. Halbfinger, “Appearing Way Before the Film: The Review”, in New York Times:

To supply with a blurb.

The unseemly business of book blurbing has been source of both humor and concern in the pages of The New Yorker.2012 April 17, Jon Michaud, “Blurb This!”, in The New Yorker:
Edward R. Murrow and other leading radio personalities blurbed the book, published in 1950 by Oxford University Press, and Siepmann thanked Paul Lazarsfeld and Herta Herzog in his acknowledgments.2015, Peter Simonson, David W. Park, The International History of Communication Study, page 268:

Related terms: capsule review