Herblock

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The pen name of Herbert Block, a American political cartoonist known for his sharp editorial drawings in the Washington Post
2. A pseudonym used by the influential American editorial cartoonist Herbert Block, who satirized politicians for decades
3. The byline of a celebrated newspaper cartoonist whose pointed political caricatures appeared in the Washington Post for many years

Etymology: Herblock was the pen name of Herbert Lawrence Block (1909–2001), the American political cartoonist who worked for the Washington Post for more than half a century. He began signing his work "Herblock" in the 1930s, and the name was simply a shortening of his own initials and surname: "Herb" from Herbert, and "block" from Block. It is a plain coinage, a compound of a nickname and a surname, with no older word behind it. What makes the name stick is how thoroughly it became a byword for his work. Block won Pulitzer Prizes in 1942, 1954, and 1979, and the name appeared under cartoons that shaped how readers pictured Richard Nixon, Joseph McCarthy, and decades of Washington politics. Editors and readers came to use "Herblock" as a standalone noun, so that a cartoon could be described as "a Herblock" in the way people speak of a Pulitzer winner.