Donkey, subs. (printers’).—1. A compositor; pressmen are in turn called
Pigs (q.v.).
English Synonyms.—Ass; moke; galley-slave.
French Synonyms.—Un mulet (printers’); un compositeur mie de pain (an
unskilled or clumsy workman; mie de pain also = a louse); un marron (a
compositor working on his own account with another printer’s plant); un
homme de lettres (= a man of letters); un singe (= a monkey); un
amphibie (a compositor who is donkey and pig [q.v.] together).
1857. In Notes and Queries, 2 S., iv., 192. Compositors are
jocosely called mokes or donkeys.