Blurb

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /blɝ(ː)b/

Definitions

1. A brief promotional description of a product, book, or event designed to attract interest
2. A concise summary used for advertising purposes that highlights key features or content
3. A short, catchy piece of writing that serves to publicize or recommend an item or occasion

Etymology: Gelett Burgess, an American artist, critic, poet and humorist, coined "blurb" in 1907 as a joke on a dust jacket. The jacket was printed for a trade association dinner and showed a fictitious "Miss Belinda Blurb" calling out in the act of "blurbing", with the text "YES, this is a 'BLURB'!" The gag was so playful that the word stuck, and Burgess later recalled the episode in his 1940 book "Are You a Bromide?" The coinage was a nonsense word with no classical or older root behind it. Burgess invented it to sound like a loud, showy shout, and the joke was that a publisher's promotional line on a book jacket was itself a kind of noisy announcement. Its meaning stayed close to that origin: a short, eye-catching promotional summary.

Synonyms: summary, description, advertisement