blurb

Etymology

Coined by American humorist Gelett Burgess in 1907 on a dust jacket at a trade association dinner in 1907. The dust jacket said “YES, this is a “BLURB”!” and featured a (fictitious) “Miss Belinda Blurb” shown calling out, described as “in the act of blurbing”.

noun

1. A short description of a book, film, or other work, written and used for promotional purposes.

verb

1. (transitive) To write or quote in a blurb.
   When Rene Rodriguez of The Miami Herald blogged about having seen and loved “The Departed” in Toronto in a supposedly private screening last fall, Warner Brothers “scolded me very strongly,” he said, “but they still blurbed a line from my blog in their opening ad.” July 4, 2007, David M. Halbfinger, “Appearing Way Before the Film: The Review”, in New York Times
2. (transitive) To supply with a blurb.
   Edward R. Murrow and other leading radio personalities blurbed the book, published in 1950 by Oxford University Press, and Siepmann thanked Paul Lazarsfeld and Herta Herzog in his acknowledgments. 2015, Peter Simonson, David W. Park, The International History of Communication Study, page 268