stop press

English

Alternative forms

• stop-press when used as a noun in attribution

Etymology

From stop the presses, US newspaper-printing jargon.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

stop press

1. (UK, journalism) The event or news article important enough to delay or interrupt the print, or require a reprint, of a publication, particularly of a newspaper edition.
   • 1989, Textual Introduction to The Anatomy of Melancholy, Robert Burton [1]

     Three of the errata corrections had already been made as stop-press corrections [...]

   • 2002, Russell Miller, Behind the Lines [2]

     Faked Stop Press! announcements in newspapers. A valuable trick because it can always be claimed that the announcement was ‘hushed up’. It is also easy to fake the printing of the Stop Press.

   • 2005, Mary Norway, The Sinn Fein Rebellion As I Saw It, [3]

     Another lady thought she would drive a lesson home, so she said: “But you said it was a ‘Stop press,’ and you knew it was not.”

     “It is, miss, but sure they hadn’t time to print the ‘stop press’ on it!!”

     (“Stop press” is the latest news, usually printed on the back of the paper.)

   • 2023 March 8, “Tube drivers announce "first day of action"”, in RAIL, number 978, page 11:

     STOP PRESS: As this issue of RAIL went to press, the RMT announced that it too would be taking strike action on the Tube on March 15

Verb

stop press (third-person singular simple present stops press, present participle stopping press, simple past and past participle stopped press)

1. (UK) Used to announce an event or news article important enough to delay or interrupt the print, or require a reprint, of publication, particularly of a newspaper edition.
2. (idiomatic, UK) Used to grab attention, implying importance, news-worthiness, etc.

See also

• stop the presses

Anagrams

• popstress, press pots