Runyon

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Damon Runyon was an American writer and journalist famous for colorful short stories about New York gamblers, gangsters and street characters
2. The surname of an American journalist and author who wrote humorous tales of Broadway gamblers and petty criminals in slangy dialogue
3. An early twentieth-century American writer whose short fiction portrayed Manhattan's underworld and nightlife through vivid, stylized narration

Etymology: Damon Runyon was an American journalist whose short stories followed Broadway gamblers, bookies and small-time hustlers. He told them in a clipped, slangy voice, and that style became so recognizable that readers began calling anything resembling his colorful, street-wise world "Runyonesque." The noun "runyon" is best understood as a product of that association. It draws its meaning from his surname and his fiction rather than from any older root. Its precise history beyond that is uncertain.