Paperboys

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A young person who distributes newspapers in a designated area on behalf of a publisher or delivery service
2. Someone typically seen riding a bicycle while delivering publications to subscribers
3. An individual engaged in the routine task of ensuring timely delivery of newsprint to homes within a specific neighborhood

Etymology: "Paperboys" is simply the plural of "paperboy," a compound formed from "paper" and "boy." The first element refers to the newspapers these boys carried, and the second to the young male who did the carrying, so the word describes its own job in plain terms: a boy who handles paper, specifically the daily news sheets. The plural follows the regular English pattern, adding "s" to "paperboy." Like many compounds of this kind, the word is built entirely from everyday English elements, with no borrowed roots behind it.

Synonyms: newspaper carriers