noun a young, naïve and untrained reporter. The term is a popular culture allusion to the Superman legend. When Clark Kent went to work at the Daily Star, Jimmy Olsen was an office boy with aspirations to be a great reporter. With help from Superman, Olsen, who was forever tagged with the label 'cub reporter', became a member of the reporting staff. From the much earlier (1845) sense of a 'cub' as an 'apprentice' US, 1908