Meaning of bus plunge | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A phrase often used in filler story headlines in print newspapers, prior to the adoption of computer-aided typesetting and publishing methods, as it filled out the usual width of a column in the eight-column layout then prevalent in the industry.
   idiomatic, often, uncountable
2. A specific instance of such a story.
   countable, idiomatic, often, uncountable
3. A similar example in other media of a filler story.
   broadly, countable, idiomatic, often, uncountable
4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bus, plunge. An instance of a bus falling from an elevated place.
   countable, uncountable

Examples

““One of them said to me, ‘We’re keeping up the bus plunges in your absence,’ or words to that effect,” says Siegal. Bus plunges had become an inside joke, with editors scouting the wires for new ones.”

“Here's the thing about newspapers: they can't publish blank space. You've gotta put something in there. So editors started putting in lots of "bus plunge" briefs because they were short, simple, and filled space easily.”

“We ran a bus plunge story on page 6 to fill the empty space so we could make deadline.”

CEFR level