Meaning of headliny | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Resembling or characteristic of a headline (the heading or title of an article); typical of or incorporating headlinese.
   informal
2. Hitting the headlines; (worthy of) having or being given headlines.
   informal
3. Resembling, characteristic of, or worthy of being a headline or headliner (the top-billed attraction or performer).
   informal

Examples

“The president [Franklin D. Roosevelt] turned aside a query as to whether [Winston] Churchill seemed confident that Britain could win without American help with the observation that the question was “headliny” without having sufficient substance.”

“The welcome in N.Z. was deeply touching. I do think it wonderful to find such burning loyalty nowadays, and what a mental rest to find serious, well written newspapers. One had forgotten how vulgar ours have become, & it was quite a shock to return here to the headliny, gossipy, untruthful kind of writing.”

“On the other hand Elliott now plays down the relationship between his father and Lucy Mercer, which added a note of tasteless sensationalism in “An Untold Story.” This book [A Rendezvous with Destiny] is markedly more objective, less headliny than its predecessor.”

“Doak rung up a two-bagger, but his gardening in the alfalfa was not of the headliny variety.”

“The Opposite Sex, as Ring Lardner has nicknamed it or them, has drawn its share of competitive glory in other seasons. The advance has been steady and sure. And for the remainder of the summer, with the arrival of Mlle Lenglen and Miss Leitch, the female of the species will be about as headlinier as the male. In Suzanne Lenglen of France, and Cecil Leitch of England, those who esteem sport in any form will see the two most famous women stars that ever strode beneath the spotlight.”

“IT has been such a headliny week, what with [Nikita] Khrushchev and all, events moving swiftly, frenzied activity in a wide variety of fields, action and reaction, tests, blasts, notes and comments that nobody except the Alsop Brothers seem to be able to make head or tail of it in the modest compass of a small column.”

“ANYONE NOTICED that denominational conventions are much less “headliny” this year than last? It seems to some like a reaction against several years of rugged controversy in which the church was thrown headlong into the maelstrom of conflict, which has tended to divide the nation. Perhaps a more accurate description would be that this is a year for the churches to digest and absorb the momentous events of recent years.”

“Gee Gee James was again on the bill, to the great disgust of the local critics, who have failed to see anything headliny about her work, while George Wiltshire was a jocose M.C.—but only got by because of the splendid support of Apus Brooks, the blackface shorty, who held him up, and carried him over.”

“Jean Parker, usually associated with film productions, is the headline as far as “name” billing goes. But inasmuch as Miss Parker, and her helpmate, Ralph Sanford, are occupied, with small success, in making Jean Parker a comedienne attraction, one must look elsewhere for headlinier talent. This being the case, the roller-skate team of Gaynor and Ross succeed to this week’s distinction.”

“The headliners, Tony Bennett, Dick Shawn, and June Valli, were never headlinier. [And they get paid three times their normal night club fee!]”

CEFR level