small printn.adj.

1551 R. Robinson tr. T. More Vtopia sig. N.i Of ye Poettes they haue Aristophanes Homer, Euripides, and Sophocles in Aldus small prynte [L. tum Sophoclem minusculis Aldi formulis].

1668 J. Beale Let. July in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1967) IV. 534 All my Family..are amaz'd to see a blind man, by ye help of such a Jimbold Toy, containeing nothing but emptiness & darknes, read ye small Prints, as promptly, as ye youngest of them.

1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 50 A small Print might easily be read by it.

1740 Mem. Royal Soc. 6 476 The Dr. has fix'd the telescope in such a manner, that a Presbyta could read a small print at a great distance.

1749 W. Crookshank Hist. Church Scotl. I. ii. 90 My author does not give an abstract of them, because they contain thirteen sheets of small print.

1785 T. Jefferson Notes Virginia xxii. 323 A large octavo volume of small print.

1807 T. Young Course Lect. Nat. Philos. II. 315/1 A person becoming short sighted..At 50, probably from reading a small print frequently without much light.

1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits ii. 34 The sea-fire shines in her wake... Near the equator, you can read small print by it.

1922 Wisconsin Libr. Bull. May 112/2 Small print is enough to condemn an otherwise desirable book in a hospital library.

1988 V. Alcock Monster Garden (1990) iii. 16 Don't stop at the library and strain your eyes over small print in huge books.

2011 M. Stratford in Translating Women 71 The translator's name is generally inside the book, in small print.

1900 B. Heckstall-Smith D. Kemp's Man. Yacht & Boat Sailing (ed. 9) viii. 167 The conditions of the race were fully stated on a bill which I saw.., but, being in a hurry, I did not read the small print.

1944 E. Blunden Cricket Country xvi. 161 What all these curious titles [of games said by Rabelais to have been played by Gargantua] meant in practice may be left to the small print of the commentaries.

1947 Billboard 26 July 40/2 If an actor watches the small print and gets his kind of deal, 50 weeks' work isn't to be sneezed at.

1971 Daily Tel. 2 Nov. 14 Some interest attaches therefore to the ‘small print’ of the Queen's speech and how far it avoids firm undertakings on some of the more controversial measures.

1972 A. Price Col. Butler's Wolf xii. 136 There was nothing in the small print about having to like the men one served with.

2007 Church Times 20 July 9/2 Buried away in the small print of the Pope's announcement..is the caveat that the new permission to use the Tridentine rite does not apply during the Sacred Triduum.

1687 G. Ridpath Short-hand yet Shorter 43 All the small Print Letters..signifie the Attributes of Christ.

1814 Monthly Mag. Mar. 190/1 James Black..reading his small print Bible.

1861 Sat. Rev. 16 Nov. 519/1 He..diverges, upon the slenderest excuse, into small-print notes of alarming erudition and ponderosity.

1970 ‘W. Haggard’ Hardliners xi. 126 His contract had been terminated under some small-print clause he hadn't much studied.

1974 Times 17 Aug. 12/5 The collapse will..strengthen Government moves to reform the ‘small print’ [holiday] booking conditions.

2000 Sunday Times 23 July (Money section) 4/6 You also need to be aware of the small-print conditions of the deal.

1638 W. Wallwyn in A. Hodges tr. Achilles Tatius Loves of Clitophon & Leucippe sig. A8^v Doe we take from an Author, if we looke With Spectacles on a small-printed booke?

1861 All Year Round 30 Mar. 67/2 The small-printed American newspapers.

1956 P. Larkin Less Deceived (ed. 3) 40 Nor the shelves stuffed with small-printed books for the Sabbath.

1997 S. Xiaochun & J. Kistemaker Chinese Sky during Han iii. 53 Values..appear in small-printed notes between the data lines.