subs. (common).—A ‘sensational’ story, newspaper, or print. For variants, see AWFUL, and SHILLING SHOCKER.
1890. Academy, 1 Feb., p. 78, col. 1. Mr. George Manville Fenn is an old hand at a story with an alarming title, and he seldoms fails to live up to it. The only thing we can say against his last ‘DREADFUL’ is that it is a little deficient in ‘BODY.’
