printern.
/ˈprɪntə/, U.S. /ˈprɪn(t)ər/ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > marking > imprinting > sealing > [noun] > seal > other seals
bull1340
printerc1425
counter-seal1611
label-seal1679
gum-seal1826
c1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (St. John's Oxf.) (1850) Ezek. xxviii. 12 Preentere [a1425 Royal Thou a preente; a1425 Corpus Oxf., E.V. signet; L. signaculum] of licnesse, ful of wisdom, perfit in fairnesse, were in delicis of paradijs of God.
2. A person who prints (in various senses).† a. A person who makes an impression, indentation, etc.; a coiner. Cf. print v. I. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > coining > [noun] > coiner
minterOE
money-maker1297
forger1382
moneyera1400
coinerc1440
striker1449
printer1451
mintmaker1480
mintman1605
money coiner1742
1451 Acts Parl. Scotl. II. 40/2 At the prentaris & strikaris be na goldsmythis and vtheris may be gottyn.
1567 in J. H. Burton Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1877) 1st Ser. I. 556 All Meltaris, Forgearis and Prentaris within the said cunyehous.
1570–1 in D. Masson Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1898) 1st Ser. XIV. 89 The generall maister cunzeour, warrandis,..sinkar, meltaris,..and prentaris of the cunze hous.
1593 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1814) 48 (Jam.) It salbe lesum to the said Mr. cunyiour to imputt and outputt forgearis, prentaris, and all vthiris thingis belanging to the said office.
1612 Acts Parl. Scotl. IV. 488/2 Prenters.
1853 C. Dickens Let. 11 Mar. (1993) VII. 49 I hope we shall never terminate our business engagements until that printer in stone who will have to be employed at last, shall set up F.I.N.I.S. over our last binding in boards.
b. A person or establishment whose business is the printing of books, pamphlets, or the like; the owner of a printing business; a person employed in a printing office.Originally a printer would usually also act as publisher.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > printing > printer > [noun]
printer?1492
presser1545
imprinter1552
pressman1578
typographer1643
hog1732
typograph1737
pig1806
hand pressman1842
typographist1851
?1492 R. Pynson in Statutes & Ordenaunces of Warre in Library (1981) 3 342 Emprented by..[Ri]chard Pynson prynter of this boke.
?1504 Anno xix Henrici VII Statuta sig. C.viij Enprynted in london within Seynt Helens be Guillam Faques ye kyng Prynter.
?1507 Year Bk. 22 Edw. IV sig. Ivi Emprynted at London..by Richard Pynson, Prenter vnto the Kynges noble grace.
?1518 A. Barclay tr. D. Mancinus Myrrour Good Maners sig. A.iiv This boke..profreth the vertues cardynall. The boke prynter selleth no better thyng at all.
1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 499/1 Of that writing that remayneth, some corrupted bi writers, some by prenters.
1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Fiv v/2 A Printer, chalcographus.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 14 Wee can no more ascribe these things to chance, than a Printers Case of letters could by chance fall into the right composition of the Bible which he printeth, or of Homers Iliads.
1676 H. Prideaux Let. 18 Sept. (1875) 51 The London printars are soe industrious to obstruct the sale of our bookes, that I beleive they must of necessity breake us.
1708 Brit. Apollo 13 Feb. Any Persons, upon directing their Letters to the Printer superscrib'd, for the British Apollo, may have this Paper brought to their Houses.
1769 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) I. i. 1 To the Printer of the Public Advertiser.
1841 C. Cist Cincinnati in 1841 (advt.) R. P. Brooks, Book & Job Printer... Is prepared to execute..every variety of Fancy or Plain Job Printing.
1867 W. T. Brande & G. W. Cox Dict. Sci., Lit. & Art (new ed.) III. 69/2 Caxton's types, as well as those of most of the early printers, were the Gothic, or black letter characters.
1915 Atlantic Monthly Dec. 812/2 The accents..were not cast with the type, but inserted separately and laboriously by the printer.
1955 P. Larkin Let. 7 Sept. in Sel. Lett. (1992) 250 I hope you can make these alterations, but if the printers turn awkward I shan't hit the roof.
1982 F. Raphael Byron (1988) 117 Shelley was finding difficulty in getting his work published at all and often had to pay the printer himself.
2004 Slightly Foxed Summer 23 When your book has just gone to the printer and you hit upon something so crucial to it that you hop about for days cursing at the loss.
c. A person engaged in any of various other printing processes, as the stamping of designs on cloth, the production of photographs, etc. Cf. print v. III.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > treating or processing textile fabric > [noun] > printing > calico printing > one who
printer1701
calico-printer1706
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > photographic processes > [noun] > processors
bromide printer1885
enlarger1886
developer1899
gum-worker1908
printer1966
1701 London Gaz. No. 3760/4 A House, and Ground fit for a Whitster, or Callico-Printer, is to be Let.
1704 tr. P. Baldæus Descr. Ceylon in A. Churchill & J. Churchill Coll. Voy. III. 803/2 100 Printers of Callicoes.
1797 Trial R. Dry 19 Q. What is he? A. A cotton printer.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 214 The great disadvantage under which the French printers labour is the higher price they pay for cotton fabrics, above that paid by the English printers.
1895 Oracle Encycl. I. 585/2 A boy whose duty was to spread evenly the colour on a prepared smooth cloth surface, on to which the printer dipped his block.
1909 Dundee Advertiser 25 Dec. 7 He commenced work..as a tier boy to a calico block printer.
1966 J. Dixon & P. Dixon Photogr. i. 18 A good printer is of tremendous value to a studio. Without seeing the original subject he can take the negative and produce prints of superb quality.
2000 S. Garfield Mauve 64 When silk and cotton printers complained about the unevenness of his colour on their cloth, Perkin presented them with a new method of producing level dyeings.
3. A type of cotton cloth made to be printed on. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > cotton > [noun] > for specific uses > for printing
printing cloth1803
printer1829
print cloth1848
1829 Wheelers' Manchester Chron. 24 Oct. 2/3 7-8ths. power-loom printers' remain in a depressed state; for 9-8ths. of the same cloth there is rather a better demand.
1841 Times 3 May 5/6 We have been assured by one or two agents, that they have had more inquiry this week for power-loom printers than for the three last preceding ones.
1864 J. S. Buckle Manuf. Compend. p. ix 36 inches wide Cambric Printer, 50 yards long.
1883 Daily News 25 June 2/7 Cotton Goods... Mexicans, T-cloths, and printers are generally dull, with occasional sales at a slight decline.
1939 Times 13 Sept. 12/4 Some useful transactions have been negotiated in light printers and fancies for Denmark, fancy poplins, and linings for South America, and finishing cloths for the West Indies.
4. A device used for printing.
a. A device for printing telegraph messages received; a teleprinter.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telegraphy > telegraph > [noun] > types of > printing telegraphs
printing telegraph1841
telotype1850
printer1859
pantelegraph1860
magneto-printer1883
typo-telegraph1888
teletyper1895
telecryptograph1904
teletype1904
teletypewriter1904
Creed1911
teleprinter1911
teletypesetter1928
telex1968
1859 T. P. Shaffner Telegr. Man. xviii. 273 The apparatus comprises two essential mechanisms, the ‘Transmitter’ or ‘Compositor’, and the ‘Receiver’ or ‘Printer’.
1890 Harper's Mag. Feb. 432/1 Edison's various devices in his old stock printer have formed the basis of all later variations on that sort of instrument.
1960 I. Fleming For your Eyes Only 26 Anything you have to say I'll put straight on the printer to London.
2001 S. Hong Wireless v. 136 He had tried to use an extremely delicate siphon recorder with a Morse printer, which had been used as a detector in submarine telegraphy.
b. mechanical printer: see mechanical adj.
c. Photography and Film. An apparatus for producing positive prints from negatives.blue, optical, projection, step printer: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > photographic processes > processing and printing equipment > [noun] > printer
printing frame1855
printer1912
projection printer1927
optical printer1944
1912 F. A. Talbot Moving Pictures viii. 82 This is the Williamson printer.
1940 G. G. Quarles Elem. Photogr. x. 135 The actual darkroom technique of making the exposure will depend upon the type of printer available.
1974 L. Lipton Independent Filmmaking ix. 371 The highest quality masters are made with optical and contact step printers.
2005 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 13 Mar. e10 McCarty spent 200 hours in examining and further repairing the negatives so they would be able to go through a printer.
d. Computing. An output device which produces a printed record of data, text, etc., from a computer or other electronic device to which it is connected.bubble-jet, chain, laser, line, matrix, thermal printer, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > printing > printing machine or press > [noun] > computer printer
printer1946
plotter-printer1972
society > computing and information technology > hardware > peripherals > [noun] > printer
colour printer1869
drum printer1913
printer1946
1946 Math. Tables & Other Aids Computation 2 103 The static outputs of a total of 80 decade counters and 16 PM counters are connected to the printer.
1962 Communications ACM 5 477/2 Routines intended for line-at-a-time printers do not yield optimal output for typewriters.
1986 S. L. Mandell Working with Applic. Software v. 81 Print-formatting features tell the printer how to print the document.
2004 Eve Dec. 208/3 PictBridge. Allows you to connect compatible printers and cameras, to print your images without a computer.
5. A photographic negative from which a print (of a particular quality) may be produced. rare.
ΚΠ
1905 Westm. Gaz. 11 Mar. 14/2 It is not always the negative which looks best which is the best printer.
Compounds
C1.
a. Appositive (chiefly in sense 2b).
ΚΠ
1663 B. Gerbier Counsel to Builders 105 Printer setters will comit faults, as appears by the Errataes at the end of books.
1881 J. W. Forney Anecdotes Public Men II. 212 A cabin-boy on the Hudson at ten, a type-setter at fourteen, fifty-nine years a printer-journalist.
1886 B. P. Poore Perley's Reminisc. I. iii. 59 The good old stock of printer-editors, who seemed to have an intuitive capacity for public affairs.
1906 Athenæum 25 Aug. 209/3 In 1618 the Community of Printer-Booksellers was sanctioned by the king [of France].
1958 Mississippi Valley Hist. Rev. 44 660 The printer-publishers of the Ohio Valley issued a grand total of 567 books in the pioneer period.
1999 New Republic (Nexis) 17 May 50 Contesting printer-authors constructed elaborate genealogies of their craft, all with an eye toward establishing the true nature of print.
b. Compounds with printer’s or printers’. See also Compounds 2.
printer's imprint n.
ΚΠ
1883 Atlantic Monthly July 144/1 There is no publisher's name, and even the printer's imprint has cautiously been suppressed.
1994 Mod. Philology 91 389 What do the binding, dust jacket, publisher's imprint, printer's imprint, and bookseller's sticker mean?
printer's mark n.
ΚΠ
1785 W. Herbert Ames' Typogr. Antiq. (rev. ed.) I. 535 In an architective compartment, having the printer's mark on the sell.
1855 ‘F. Fern’ Ruth Hall lxxvii. 330 Trying..to decipher some horrible cabalistic printer's mark on the margin of her proof.
2001 Columbia Law Rev. 101 1537 One version, housed in the rare book room.., bears a printer's mark from Baltimore, Maryland.
printers' roller n.
ΚΠ
1846 Times 18 Mar. 4/1 J. Monnery and Co., Blackfriars-road, printers' roller manufacturers.
1889 Pub. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 45 343 When these upturned figures are inked with a printer's roller, impressions may be taken on paper for use as bulletins.
1995 M. Channan Dream that Kicks (ed. 2) vii. 97 They were printers, and were looking for a substance capable of withstanding variations in atmospheric conditions from which to make printers' rollers.
printer's varnish n.
ΚΠ
1763 W. Lewis Commercium Philosophico-technicum 397 I mixed some of the softer printers varnish..with about half its weight of a thick mucilage of gum arabic.
1869 Manufacturer & Builder May 136/3 When ground with linseed-oil and printer's varnish, they may be used for book, stone, and calico printing.
1997 Printing World (Nexis) 17 Feb. 26 A new highly transparent and environmentally compatible self adhesive PP film with a printer's varnish.
C2.
printer buffer n. Computing = print buffer n. at print n. and adj.2 Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1964 Nucl. Instruments & Methods 25 293/1 These form the printer buffer stores..into which data in pulse-train form is passed from the interrogator unit.
2001 Crain's Chicago Business (Nexis) 19 May 17 He can pick up information from computer servers, workplace computers, even printer buffers, without breaking the law.
printer-plotter n. Computing = plotter-printer n. at plotter n. Compounds.
ΚΠ
1957 Science 1 Mar. 414/2 (advt.) Printer-plotter uses electrographic principles to achieve a printing speed of 5000 characters serially.
2000 Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) (Nexis) 8 Feb. f3 The college has provided 21 Pentium computers, furniture, an instructor's console and special printer/plotter used in technical drawing creation.
Printers' Bible n. a Bible in which ‘printers’ appears in place of ‘princes’ in Psalm 119:161 (see quot. 1658).The error is believed to occur in some variant copies of the first octavo edition (1612) of the King James Bible: see A. S. Herbert Darlow & Moule's Hist. Catal. English Bible (1968) 135.
ΚΠ
1658 C. B. & W. G. in S. Crook's ΤΑ ΔΙΑΦΕΡΟΝΤΑ or Divine Characters To Rdrs sig. A2 What..befell the Holy Bible it self, printed in 8o Anno 1612 wherein (among many other faults of that Edition) in steed of those words, in the 119 Psal. Princes have persecuted me, Ex., the words in many Books of that impression, ran thus, Printers have persecuted me without a cause.]
1892 Marion (Ohio) Daily Star 15 Sept. In the ‘Printers Bible’, David, where he should say ‘The princes have persecuted me without cause,’ is made to say ‘The printers have persecuted me,’ etc.
1980 Verbatim Spring 2/2 That edition is now known as (what else?) ‘The Printer's Bible’.
printer's devil n. now chiefly historical an errand boy or apprentice in a printing office; = devil n. 8a.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > printing > printer > [noun] > errand-boy
devil1683
printer's devil1716
copy-boy1888
1716 J. Dunton Royal Gratitude 42 My porter (or Printer's Devil) took his leave of me.
1763 H. Rose in Fam. Rose Kilravock (Spalding Club) 438 Harassed every morning by the printer's devil.
1873 H. Spencer Study Sociol. (1882) 127 The hand implements used by ‘printer's-devils’ fifty years ago.
1993 Coloradoan (Fort Collins) 17 Apr. c2/6 Mr. Fraker worked at various jobs, including as a ‘printer's devil’ at the Fort Collins Express Courier.
printers' fat n. now rare = fat n.2 5b.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > printing > printed matter > arrangement or appearance of printed matter > [noun] > blank space
vantage1683
fat1796
white space1888
printers' fat1898
1898 Notes & Queries 9th Ser. 12 33/1 Type..occupying exactly three-sevenths of the open page, the remaining four-sevenths being ‘printer's-fat’.
1927 2nd Deficiency Appropriation Bill: Hearings before Subcomm. (U.S. Congr. House Comm. on Appropriations) 387 There is no question but there is a lot of printers' fat in the book. Probably two-thirds of the space separating the parcels of property could have been utilized in actual printing.
printer's flower n. a printer's ornament in the form of a stylized flower or the like; = flower n. 5c.
ΚΠ
1714 tr. M. Misson New Voy. Italy (ed. 4) I. ii. xxi. 399 One might also search after Mysteries in a Printer's Flower before a Book, and figured letters.
1861 E. B. O'Callaghan List of Editions of Holy Script. 6 An ornament composed of 32 printer's flowers arranged in the shape of a diamond or Star.
1983 J. J. Walsdorf William Morris in Private Press & Limited Editions 314 Printed horizontally in red on the front cover, within a red printer's flower border.
printer's gauge n. now rare an implement for measuring or regulating pages, margins, etc.; = gauge n. 12a.
ΚΠ
1864 Webster's Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. 561/2 Printer's gauge, an instrument to regulate the margin of the page.
a1877 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. II. 1789/1 Printer's gage,..a four-sided stick for measuring the work of a compositor.
1921 London Mercury Dec. 185 The pages have been ‘made up’ by the printer's gauge rather than the printer's eye, and he has made sad havoc of the poetry.
printers' ink n. = printing ink n.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > printing > inking equipment > [noun] > ink
printing ink1553
ink1569
printers' inka1631
a1631 J. Donne in Compl. Poems (1872) II. 102 The book which, dyed with printers' ink, is thrust On shelves abandoned to the moths and dust.
1673 H. Oldenburg Let. 22 May in Corr. (1973) IX. 664 Then turne this plate, and lay it upon another thick plate, cover'd all over wth Printers Ink, and so..pass it through the rolling presse.
1764 Public Reg. (Dublin) 20 Mar. 223/2 Mr. George Rosco, manufacturer of lampblack and printers ink.
1910 Times 25 June 4/1 The listener wants to feel..that soul is speaking to soul direct, without any such mundane intervening medium as printer's ink.
2005 Independent (Nexis) 29 Mar. 35 Beryl became entranced by the smell of the printers' ink and the atmosphere of silent concentration.
printer-slotter n. a machine for printing and scoring cardboard or other packaging materials.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > printing > printing machine or press > [noun] > machine for printing on packaging
printer-slotter1945
1945 Lovell (Mass.) Sun 9 Nov. 21/4 (advt.) Printer-Slotter Operator for corrugated boxes in a new plant operation.
1998 Tampa (Florida) Tribune (Nexis) 3 Jan. Boxes are cut..on a machine called a slitter. From there they move to the printer slotter, which scores the sheets and prints company logos, then to the die cutter.
printer's pie n. = pie n.4 1.
ΚΠ
1850 Wisconsin Tribune 24 Apr. 1/4 Printer's curiosities. A crust from a printer's pie.]
1886 Science 29 Oct. 381/2 Just as improbable..as that a thousand letters of a printer's ‘pie’ should happen to form rational sentences.
1970 New Statesman 25 Dec. 863/2 Those witty literals, exotic printers' pies and secret messages in the shrdlu code.
1988 Galpin Soc. Jrnl. 41 143 A case of printer's pie—the poor apprentice dropped some of the type and shoved it back as well as he could.
printers' ream n. 21½ quires or 516 sheets of paper.
ΚΠ
1853 W. T. Brande Dict. Sci., Lit. & Art 1032/2 What is called the printer's ream contains..516 sheets.
1994 Ink & Print (Nexis) 22 June 25 Ream, as used in Figure 2 refers to a printer's ream, since values are given in terms of weight (pounds) per ream of paper (typically 418 to 516 sheets per ream).
Derivatives
ˈprinterdom n. the world of printers; printers collectively.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > printing > printing trade > [noun]
printerdom1875
printing industry1878
1875 O. H. Harpel (title) Poets and poetry of printerdom: a collection of original, selected, and fugitive lyrics, written by persons connected with printing.
1903 Brit. & Col. Printer 19 Nov. 4/1 The list of present entrants is being spread abroad through printerdom.
1942 Reno (Nevada) Evening Gaz. 13 Aug. 9/8 Taking a place alongside those legendary stalwarts of printerdom.
2000 Pop. Mech. (Nexis) 1 Feb. 68 The 740i introduced colorful teal and translucent cases to printerdom long mired in drab gray and putty-colored exteriors.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.c1425