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Glite Dictionary
Nellie Bly

Nellie Bly

1 7.6
An American reporter who went undercover to show abuse in mental hospitals
  • proper noun
  • /ˈnɛli blaɪ/
: Nellie Bly
  • Did you know that Nellie Bly went undercover to expose the conditions in mental hospitals?

Examples

  • The pioneering journalist Nellie Bly changed the landscape of investigative reporting.

  • The pioneering work of Nellie Bly helped improve conditions for mental health patients.

  • Nellie Bly became famous for her daring undercover investigations and exposés.

  • Many journalists cite Nellie Bly as an inspiration for investigative reporting.

  • Nellie Bly became famous for her daring undercover investigations and exposés.

  • Many journalists cite Nellie Bly as an inspiration for investigative reporting.

  • The pioneering work of Nellie Bly helped improve conditions for mental health patients.

Surface Forms

Nellie Bly main

Morphology

Nellie + Bly

The components 'Nellie' and 'Bly' are personal name elements and do not encode the biographical or occupational meaning (investigative American journalist) of the full expression. Identifying the referent and her significance requires world/encyclopedic knowledge rather than compositional word knowledge, so a B1 learner who only knows the constituent words would not infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Nellie Bly once pretended to be a patient in a mental hospital so she could report from inside and show how badly people were treated. That's why her name now stands for brave 'investigative reporting' and going 'undercover' to expose wrongdoing.