tabloid
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtæblɔɪd/
ipa: /ˈtæbˌlɔɪd/
Forms: form: tabloids
Etymology: The noun is derived from tabl(et) + -oid (suffix meaning ‘having the likeness of, resembling’), originally coined by the United Kingdom firm Burroughs, Wellcome & Company as a brand name for their medicines and other products such as tea in tablet form and registered as a trademark on 14 March 1884.
Sense 2 (“compact or compressed version of something; especially something having a popular or sensational nature”) is influenced by sense 2.3 (“newspaper characterized as favouring stories of a popular or sensational nature over serious news”).
The adjective and verb are derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: One of the compartments was found to contain some forty compressed tabloids, which on analysis proved to be potassium bromide.
ref: 1890 November 15, “Medicines Supplied to the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition”, in Thomas H. Wakley, Thomas Wakley, Jun., editors, The Lancet: A Journal of British and Foreign Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics, Physiology, Chemistry, Pharmacology, Public Health, and News, volume II, number 3507, London: [Thomas H. Wakley and Thomas Wakley, Jun.] […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1037, column 1:
text: Messrs. Burroughs and Wellcome have for some years past made a specialty of supplying various developers and other photographic preparations in "tabloid" form. A large number of tabloids are contained in a very small bottle, and only require crushing and dissolving in the stated quantity of water to produce a large volume of solution. […] A word of warning with respect to these convenient preparations may not be amiss: it is that in these days, when so many medicines are made up in tabloid form, great care is quite necessary to avoid any chance of mistakes by the mixing together of medicine tabloids and photographic tabloids, which may contain harmful chemicals, and might be inadvertently swallowed by mistake for the medicines.
ref: 1908 October 17, “Our Note Book. Photographic Tabloids.”, in The Boy’s Own Paper, volume XXXI, number 3 (number 1553 overall), London: “Boy’s Own Paper” Office, […], →OCLC, page 64, column 3:
text: 'It's those tabloids!' Conroy stamped his foot feebly as he blew his nose. 'They’ve knocked me out. I used to be fit once. Oh, I've tried exercise and everything. But—if one sits down for a minute when it's due—even at four in the morning—it runs up behind one.'
ref: 1911, Rudyard Kipling, “In the Same Boat”, in A Diversity of Creatures, London: Macmillan and Co., […], published 1917, →OCLC, page 70:
text: Oh, dont explain. We understand. You have a couple of thousand pounds in exchequer bills, 50,000 shares worth tenpence a dozen, and half a dozen tabloids of cyanide of potassium to poison yourself with when you are found out. Thats the reality of your millions.
ref: 1913–1916 (date written; first performed 1920 November), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Heartbreak House: A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on English Themes”, in Heartbreak House, Great Catherine, and Playlets of the War, London: Constable and Company, published 1919, →OCLC, Act III, page 100:
text: "Crook in the guts," he says tersely. The picturesque reports of previously-treated and disgusted patients have left him doubtful, and he casts an anathematising eye upon the "Black Jack" bottle. "Tabloids and duty!" says the doctor, and the sufferer sighs with relief. There's no taste in tabloids, anyhow, and he reckons the doctor "ain't a bad poor something, after all!"
ref: 1914 October 11, “In camp: The day’s work of a W.A. soldier”, in The Sunday Times, number 875, Perth, W.A.: E. W. Finn for “The Sunday Times” Publishing Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1, column 8:
text: "Now, you say Lady Dormer had been having this, that and the other. Were there any medicines lying about that General Fentiman might have accidentally taken up and swallowed?" "Oh, dear no." "No drops or tabloids or anything of that kind?" "Certainly not; the medicines were kept in my room."
ref: 1928, Dorothy L. Sayers, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club:
glosses: A small, compressed portion of a chemical, drug, food substance, etc.; a pill, a tablet.
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: A compact or compressed version of something; especially something having a popular or sensational nature.
A small biplane manufactured by the Sopwith Aviation Company and used during World War I (1914–1918).
examples: text: This boat Mayfay has been admirable as a tabloid cruiser and while Sure Mike is about her same size, Sure Mike is far more nicely modeled; she will not have Mayfay's 17-mile-an-hour homespun plainness.
ref: 1930 September, E. Weston Farmer, “Sure Mike—a New Idea in Cruisers: The Design and Specifications for a Rough Water Hydroplane for Big Outboards which Carries a Shelter Cabin and which can Cruise in Any Water Safe for Any Boat of Her Inches […] Part I”, in Charles F[rederic] Chapman, editor, Motor Boating: The Yachtsman’s Magazine, volume XLVI, number 3, New York, N.Y.: [s.n.], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 42, column 2:
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: A compact or compressed version of something; especially something having a popular or sensational nature.
In full tabloid cruiser: a small yacht used for cruising.
examples: text: […] Lyle Stuart, […] is known—notorious would be the proper word—for his publishing and writing in the fields of obscenity and extreme leftism: he puts out a sort of tabloid called "The Independent".
ref: 1967 May 17, Edward Hunter, “Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 [Exhibit 2: Anatomy of a Film Analysis of ‘Three Faces of Cuba’]”, in Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 90th Congress, First Session (United States Senate), volume 113, part 10, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 12998, column 2:
text: A public school in Moperville, where the local newspaper is sold in neighboring towns with all the regard of a tabloid. / We've got a reputation to protect! We can only report on confirmed monsters, like mega hogs, or Bigfoot!
ref: 2009 January 20, Dan Shive, “Sister 2: Part 5: Moperville News”, in El Goonish Shive (webcomic), archived from the original on 05 Nov 2024:
text: Train operating companies get plenty of column inches in the tabloids, usually for negative reasons. Happily, Southeastern is worthy of praise for having made The Sun for something positive.
ref: 2024 February 21, Nick Brodrick, “Inclusion and Development for All”, in Rail, number 1003, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 62:
topics: journalism
media
newspapers
glosses: A compact or compressed version of something; especially something having a popular or sensational nature.
A newspaper having pages half the dimensions of a broadsheet, especially characterized as favouring stories of a popular or sensational nature over serious news.
synonyms: rag
red top
scandal sheet
tab
coordinate_terms: broadsheet
compact
quality newspaper
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: A compact or compressed version of something; especially something having a popular or sensational nature.
A paper size 11 × 17 inches (279 × 432 millimetres) in dimensions.
Derived terms: word: broadloid
word: tab
word: tabloidese
word: tabloidesque
word: tabloidism
word: tabloidization
word: tabloidlike
word: tabloidy
Related terms: yellow press