This page gathers the 382 dictionary entries belonging to the domain “Printing”, as labelled by Wiktionary. Each word leads to its full entry: definitions, etymology, pronunciation, examples. Page 1 of 4: from “12mo” to “excelsior”.
- 12mo noun A book size using duodecimo-sized pages.
- 18mo noun A book size octodecimo-sized pages.
- 32mo noun A book with leaves of such size, about the size of a contemporary trade paperback.
- 3D print verb To use a 3D printer to make (a three-dimensional solid object) from a digital model.
- 8vo noun A book size, corresponding to the page size.
- agate noun The size of type between pearl and nonpareil, standardized as 5+¹⁄₂-point.
- AIP noun acoustic inkjet printing
- alligator noun A kind of job press.
- American noun A size of type smaller than German, 1-point type.
- anastatic adj Of or relating to a printing process in which copies of drawings are printed from facsimiles produced in relief on zinc plates.
- anilox noun A method used to provide a measured amount of ink to a flexo printing plate, involving a hard cylinder whose surface is covered in tiny…
- ass noun A compositor.
- astonisher noun An exclamation mark, the punctuation mark “!”.
- back noun The inside margin of a page.
- back gray noun A piece of dark, heavy cotton cloth that is run under another piece of cloth to be printed, serving to take up the color on the roller…
- back up verb To run a printing press in reverse.
- ball noun A leather-covered cushion, fastened to a handle called a ballstock; formerly used by printers for inking the form, then superseded by the…
- band printer noun A type of impact line printer in which a metal band, etched with character shapes and timing marks, moves horizontally across the print…
- bang out verb To celebrate (a fellow printing or newspaper industry worker) to mark their completion of an apprenticeship or their retirement by…
- bank noun A kind of table used by printers.
- bastard adj Abbreviated, as the half title in a page preceding the full title page of a book.
- batter noun A bruise on the face of a plate or of type in the form.
- beard noun That part of a type which is between the shoulder of the shank and the face.
- bearer noun A strip of reglet or other furniture to bear off the impression from a blank page.
- bed noun The flat part of the press, on which the form is laid.
- bite noun A blank on the edge or corner of a page, owing to a portion of the frisket, or something else, intervening between the type and paper.
- black letter adj Written or printed in black letter.
- bleed noun A narrow edge around a page layout, to be printed but cut off afterwards (added to allow for slight misalignment, especially with pictures…
- bleed edge noun An edge where bleed occurs.
- bleeding noun The migration of impressions (dents), ink, or both through the substrate (paper or otherwise).
- bleeding edge noun The situation produced when the image extends beyond the nominal margin.
- block noun A piece of hard wood on which a stereotype or electrotype plate is mounted.
- bodkin noun A sharp tool, like an awl, formerly used for pressing down individual type characters (e.g. letters) from a column or page in making…
- body noun The shank of a type, or the depth of the shank (by which the size is indicated).
- bokashi noun A technique in Japanese woodblock printing that achieves a variation in lightness and darkness of a single colour by means of ink applied…
- bottle verb Of pages printed several on a sheet: to rotate slightly when the sheet is folded two or more times.
- bourgeois noun A size of type between brevier and long primer, standardized as 9-point.
- box verb To enclose (images, text, etc.) in a box.
- brachy noun A breve, as applied to Ancient Greek <˘>.
- branch out verb To white out or expand the whitespace around the title or other words, lines, etc. in a document.
- brayer noun A hand printing tool, in the US often a roller, used to spread a thin even layer of ink. Early brayers, consisting of a vertical cylinder…
- breve noun A semicircular diacritical mark (˘) placed above a vowel, commonly used to mark its quantity as short.
- brilliant noun The size of type between excelsior and diamond, standardized as 4-point.
- bring up verb To level type or make it ready for printing by overlaying it.
- brush out verb To clean a form using lye or turpentine.
- bug noun Synonym of union bug.
- bump verb To spread out material so as to fill any desired number of pages.
- camera-ready adj Ready to go to press; ready for publication.
- cancel noun The suppression on striking out of matter in type, or of a printed page or pages.
- cannon noun Alternative form of canon (“a large size of type”).
- canon noun A large size of type formerly used for printing the church canons, standardized as 48-point.
- case noun A shallow tray divided into compartments or "boxes" for holding type, traditionally arranged in sets of two, the "upper case" (containing…
- cast verb To stereotype or electrotype.
- cast off verb To estimate the amount of space required by the type used for the given copy.
- catchline noun A temporary note at the top of a page or galley proof to identify it.
- catchword noun A word at the end of a book page that repeats the first word from the following page. (Such words served as aids to the bookbinder (to…
- chase noun A rectangular steel or iron frame into which pages or columns of type are locked for printing or plate-making.
- cliché noun A stereotype (printing plate).
- clicker noun One who has charge of the work of a companionship.
- colophon noun In manuscripts (typically before the invention of printing), the note, usually at the end, left by the scribe who copied it, giving…
- color separation noun The process of breaking down a colored image into its component colors in order for it to be printed.
- colour bar noun A pattern of varying tonal density that enables visual and numeric comparisons to be made across multiple printed sheets or pages.
- Columbian noun A size of type between English and great primer, standardized as 16-point.
- come in verb To be correctly placed in preparation for printing.
- come off verb To finish being printed.
- compose verb To arrange (types) in a composing stick for printing; to typeset.
- composing rule noun A thin slip of brass or steel, against which the type is arranged in a composing stick, or by the aid of which stickfuls or handfuls or…
- composition noun Typesetting.
- contone adj Having a continuous range of tones from white to black, rather than an approximation such as stippling.
- copyedit verb To correct the spelling, grammar, formatting, etc. of printed material and prepare it for typesetting, printing, or online publishing.
- core noun A hollow cylindrical piece of cardboard around which a web of paper or plastic is wound.
- coronis noun A device, curved stroke, or flourish formed with a pen, coming at the end of a book or chapter; a colophon. For example: ⸎, ۞.
- counterproof noun The inverted image of an original proof.
- counterpunch noun A punch used in the cutting of other punches, often used to create the negative space in or around a glyph.
- cropmark noun Any of the marks placed at the corners of a form to indicate where the page is to be trimmed.
- crotchet noun A square bracket.
- crown noun A standard size of printing paper measuring 20 × 15 inches.
- d noun Abbreviation of duodecimo, as adopted by the American Library Association.
- dele verb To delete.
- desensitize verb To make non-image portions of (a lithographic stone or plate) repellent to ink.
- device noun An image or logo denoting official or proprietary authority or provenience.
- diamond noun The size of type between brilliant and pearl, standardized as 4+¹⁄₂-point.
- display verb To make conspicuous by using large or prominent type.
- distribute verb To separate (type which has been used) and return it to the proper boxes in the cases.
- distribution noun The process of sorting the types and placing them in their proper boxes in the cases.
- distributor noun A machine for distributing type.
- dossil noun A roll of cloth for wiping off the face of a copperplate, leaving the ink in the engraved lines.
- double letter noun Two letters on one shank; a ligature.
- doublet noun A word or phrase set a second time by mistake.
- drive out verb To set closely; to take up less space because the typesetter uses type that is thinner than the copy or the typesetter whites out more or…
- ductor noun A device, usually in the form of an oscillating roller, for transferring ink from a source to the ink train rollers in a controlled manner.
- duodecimo noun A size of paper, so called because it is originally made by folding and cutting a single sheet from a printing press into 12 leaves; (5 by…
- editioning noun The process of making a small number of prints available, in order to make the print more lucrative.
- electrotype noun a plate, made by electroplating a mold, such as used in letterpress printing
- elephant noun Synonym of elephant paper.
- emerald noun A size of type between nonpareil and minion, standardized as 6½-point.
- english noun A size of type between pica (12 point) and great primer (18 point), standardized as 14-point.
- engraving noun The art of producing an image from an engraved printing form, typically made of copper.
- errata noun An added page in a printed work where errors which are discovered after printing and their corrections (corrigenda) are listed.
- excelsior noun The size of type between Norse and brilliant, standardized as 3-point.