Cleffer

noun, slang

noun, slang ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    songwriter informal

    "Indications that the top tunesmiths are rewriting their version of the music publishers pot o' gold role in the tune biz can be found in reports here that Edwin H. (Buddy) Morris's relations with film cleffers Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen will be changed shortly from a "pub affiliate" structure to a "writer participation" basis."

Example

More examples

"Indications that the top tunesmiths are rewriting their version of the music publishers pot o' gold role in the tune biz can be found in reports here that Edwin H. (Buddy) Morris's relations with film cleffers Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen will be changed shortly from a "pub affiliate" structure to a "writer participation" basis."

Etymology

From clef + -er.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.