jobsworth

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jobsworth

(ˈdʒɒbzˌwɜːθ)
n
informal a person in a position of minor authority who invokes the letter of the law in order to avoid any action requiring initiative, cooperation, etc
[C20: from it's more than my job's worth to …]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
Translations

jobsworth

n (inf pej)Paragrafenreiter(in) m(f)
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
References in periodicals archive ?
Jobsworths are running the council and I have to ask myself, why am I paying such high council tax when everything is being cut back?
Last night the huge figures led to accusations by a motoring organisation that "jobsworths" try to catch "virtually all drivers" by setting speed limits too low.
In truth, the small-minded, officious, overly pedantic jobsworths should be ashamed of this week's decision, which proves they have no shred of romance in their souls nor sense of fair play in their heads.
HEALTH and safety jobsworths have a bad name so good luck to Nasa in trying to recruit one.
Andy shows the way THANKFULLY, the Fifa jobsworths only run football, not tennis.
It's a big smile that lifts everything up and hides the jaw that has no definition and the neck that is like a rooster's" Top fashion photographer Mario Testino "Increasingly this country is actually governed now by the bureaucrats, not the elected tribunes of the people who seem to be intimidated into submission by jobsworths" Writer Frederick Forsyth "You can see the celebrities are burnt out and tired.
Her life was cut short by cervical cancer because she was deemed by some jobsworths to be too young to have a smear test.
JOBSWORTHS have been warned not to use health and safety laws to introduce "ridiculous" rules after a drive to uncover their misuse discovered frisbee bans and an end to donkey rides on beaches.
New analysis of the more ridiculous incidents - including fish too slippery to fillet and mobile phone bans in the name of health and safety - showed the region was behind only London and the South East for the number of ill-founded excuses by jobsworths.
Ian Hart, who's played Lennon twice before, turns in a hat-trick performance as the older, very bitter Lennon raging at the "Snodgrasses" or jobsworths of the world.
The Health and Safety Executive said over 150 cases had been reported to a panel it set up last year to fight back against "jobsworths" who use safety laws as a ruse to ban legitimate activities.
The panel is helping the man and woman on the street to fight back against the jobsworths."