英和和英

語源

From their low price and the lower-class British use of dreadful (“sensationalized crime reporting”).

名詞

penny dreadful (複数形 penny dreadfuls)

1. (originally derogatory, now usually historical) A cheap paperback book, particularly those concerning lurid depictions of crime in the Victorian era.
   • 1861 July 29, North American Review:

     They can read the ‘penny dreadful’, but they cannot darn their stockings or mend their shoes.

2. (originally derogatory, now usually historical) Pulp fiction: stories written in the lurid style of the penny dreadfuls.

使用する際の注意点

Also used attributively as an adjective.

派生語

• penny-dreadfulish

参考

• dime novel
• gazette
• pulp fiction

参照

• Oxford English Dictionary, "penny, n.", 2005.

Further reading

• penny dreadful on Wikipedia.