Clerkish

That's what he felt like: a guy who's retreated into his clerkish office. ❋ Lizzie Simon (2011)

In that last category, Headquarters Battery had the advantage of a disproportionate number of certified badasses, despite the clerkish character of our duty assignments. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Michael considered the careful clerkish script and the phrasing — diplomatic formal. ❋ Laurens, Stephanie (2004)

Inspector Mota collates the details into an incident report, dictated to the clerkish officer, who eventually finishes typing. ❋ David Quammen (2004)

We march up a concrete stairway to the fourth floor, where a clerkish officer sits at a desk behind an antique typewriter in a large room otherwise bare of furniture, waiting to record my statement of victim-hood. ❋ David Quammen (2004)

Theo Padnos is a slightly clerkish-looking man of thirty-four, small and pale, whose horn-rimmed glasses and mop of curly, uncombed hair make it easy not to notice the wiry mountain-biker's sinews in his arms and legs. ❋ Unknown (2002)

Harry could see his breath by the clerkish light of green-shaded lamps that hung over a glassed-in office area. ❋ Smith, Martin Cruz (2002)

The clerkish type shied back, and then his eyes caught the tiny scar on Matt's chest. ❋ Niven, Larry (1968)

'Squaaad-HALT!' called out the Master-at-Arms, and handed papers to a slight, clerkish-appearing man who stood near an inner doorway. ❋ Heinlein, Robert A. (1967)

He was a clerkish-looking man with a droning voice, and he called himself Ceres Base. ❋ Niven, Larry (1966)

His sons seemed men of honor; the elder rather clerkish, the younger a lieutenant of the household, very Cretan-looking, lovelocked and willow-waisted, but with the nerve of a soldier. ❋ Renault, Mary, 1905-1983 (1958)

He looked distinctly worried, so did the private secretary – sallow-faced, of a clerkish type, and obviously without social qualifications – who was also wandering round and trying ineffectively to do the right thing. ❋ Unknown (1915)

Mullan's own performance as John's drunken, abject father - ineffectually bellowing from behind clerkish spectacles - is poignant, but nearly unbalances the film's delicate economy. ❋ Unknown (2011)

This is written for a rarity at the seat of business: it is but little time I can generally command from secular calligraphy -- the pen seems to know as much and makes letters like figures -- an obstinate clerkish thing. ❋ Mary Lamb (1805)

My belief was that he would be a fairly straight shooter, perhaps a little clerkish, but a guy we could trust. ❋ Lord David (2010)

The play goes like clockwork, tailored to the particular talents of almost forgotten actors like Tom Walls and Ralph Lynn (who played the cousins originally) and Robertson Hare, who always played the clerkish, bespectacled, hen-pecked husbands, and sometimes the worm who turned. ❋ Unknown (2009)