/verb [with object]
1Produce (books, newspapers, etc.), especially in large quantities, by a mechanical process involving the transfer of text or designs to paper: a thousand copies of the book were printed...
- In its early days some books were printed on India paper, which was so fine that some volumes were reduced to half their original size.
- Harsh penalties were imposed for printing newspapers on unstamped paper.
- Secondly, the book is printed on pulp paper of abysmal quality.
1.1Produce (text or a picture) by a printing process: the words had been printed in dark type...
- Interior text and images were printed in black and white.
- At Curwen Studios, Cambridgeshire, they print a lithographic poster using methods Lautrec himself would have used.
- I had a paper due, but I hadn't used my printer yet so I decided to test it by printing a picture.
1.2(Of a newspaper or magazine) publish (a piece of writing) within its pages: the article was printed in the first edition...
- The day after this Sunday creation event, the city newspaper printed a full page article on the creation vs. evolution debate.
- One newspaper printed a piece under the headline ‘Death of the Butterfly.’
- I would like to know why it is so hard these days for a skateboard magazine to print any writing at all that describes skating.
Synonyms
publish, issue, release, disseminate, circulate, propagate, purvey
1.3(Of a publisher or printer) arrange for (a book, manuscript, etc.) to be reproduced in large quantities: in 1923 he printed Yeats’ ’Biographical Fragments'...
- The couple were never given official notification of the ban and were not even told when their publisher stopped printing the book at the peak of its legal sales.
- Malmesbury town councillor Judy Jones's book about escaping the rat race has been so successful her publishers are printing another edition.
- The enthusiast has financed the latest book himself and, based on the previous projects, expects the 1,500 copies printed by publishers Country Books to sell quickly.
1.4Produce a paper copy of (information stored on a computer): the results of a search can be printed out...
- We discussed his patents (years earlier) on musical notation, allowing sheet music to be printed out by computers.
- The images created using computer were printed out and framed.
- I raced to the school computer lab, printed out the two copies required, and realized I had forgotten my wallet.
1.5Produce (a photographic print) from a negative: any make of film can be developed and printed...
- His photographs are occasionally painted on, after being printed from negatives he has altered and scratched.
- Because they could be printed from a negative, cartes de visite could be mass produced, unlike most earlier photographic processes.
- The photographs have been printed from a collection of lost negatives that were found by collector John Bosko.
2Write (text) clearly without joining the letters together: print your name and address on the back of the cheque...
- The charge that some letters of some signatures are printed rather than written is particularly ludicrous.
- What I found was a silver chain, with a plaque in which was clearly printed the name ‘Kiley.’
- I printed MEG PICKARD clearly, and handed her the form.
3Mark (a surface, typically a fabric or garment) with a coloured design or pattern: a delicate fabric printed with roses...
- The fabric was printed with a simple design, and the full skirt accentuated her tiny waist.
- Traditional fabrics were block printed with geometric designs.
- The cloth is printed with a mix of ethnically distinct Papuan motifs, usually in bright colours (initially due to a difficulty in sourcing dye from Java).
Synonyms
imprint, impress, stamp, mark, brand;
punch, inscribe, engrave, chase, etch, carve, deboss, emboss
3.1Transfer (a design or pattern) to a surface: patterns of birds and trees were printed on the cotton...
- By a woody grain printing process, a woody grain pattern is printed on the abraded surface.
- Lasting as long as normal nail varnish, the NailJet Pro can print photographs or any other high resolution design and it can print a different design on every fingernail.
- The crimson or dusky green toile pattern is printed on Celeste 406 thread count percale sheeting with hand drawn hems.
3.2Make (a mark or indentation) by pressing something on a surface or in a soft substance: he printed a mark on her soft skin...
- Her forehead was swelling red, with the Frisbee's mark printed on it.
- Another method of hiding the message was printed in the surface of mooncakes as a simple puzzle or mosaic.
- Despite the fact that I don't understand any of what's printed on them, I really enjoy the tiny red bean mooncakes here... and anything made of taro.
3.3Mark (the surface of a soft substance): we printed the butter with carved wooden butter moulds
3.4Fix (something) firmly or indelibly in someone’s mind: his face was printed on her memory...
- And what we saw on the way was indelibly printed on my mind.
- A work is the production of a human being, and a part of that human being is indelibly printed on it.
- Both pieces have been in my collection a good few years now and have lasted for very many plays that have printed them indelibly on my mind.
Synonyms
register, record, note, impress, imprint, engrave, etch, stamp, mark, brand, set, ingrain
noun
1 [mass noun] The text appearing in a book, newspaper, or other printed publication, especially with reference to its size, form, or style: she forced herself to concentrate on the tiny print bold print...
- New technical terms are presented in the text in bold-faced print and the definitions of these terms are conveniently located at the bottom of each page.
- The book's overall dimensions, font size, and uses of bold print make it very user friendly.
- She produced the piece of paper to which the notice had been attached, and which now bore the word ‘Declined’ in bold print, with a signature below.
Synonyms
type, printing, letters, lettering, characters, type size, typeface, face, font;
British fount
1.1The state of being available in published form: the news will never get into print...
- So, when I find a book which comes from one of the well-known firms which publish more or less anything for an author who is keen to get into print, the first thing I want to know is, Can the guy write?
- Of course, it would be a mistake to assume, from this evidence, that if you just persevere long enough you are bound to get into print eventually; you might end up by getting nowhere.
- The main target group was, after all, mostly younger scholars who were very keen to get into print and whom one wanted to give a stake in the success of the field.
1.2 (usually the prints) informal A newspaper: the report’s contents were widely summarized in the public prints...
- The expo aims to become a forum for publishers to promote opportunities in the print media industry, which observers say has the potential to grow by up to four times larger than its current size.
- And that's the wonderful thing about cartoons, they can actually communicate in a way quite different from the rest of the print media.
- It is worrisome for magazines and newspapers, since Internet media consumption is already higher than for print media.
1.3 [as modifier] Relating to the printing industry or the printed media: the print unions...
- Although St Ives is not part of this national agreement, the GPMU print workers' union decided to ballot its members to win a similar pay increase.
- Ross Pritchard was a member and activist in the print workers' GPMU union until his death from cancer in 2001.
- Tony Dubbins from the GPMU print union said he wanted small firms to be brought within the laws covering union recognition and other changes.
2An indentation or mark made on a surface or soft substance: there were paw prints everywhere...
- A paw print was found at one of the locations where it was seen.
- We spent a misty day walking through the forests around Forsmark, where the newly fallen snow held the paw prints of lynx and the big M-shaped hoof marks of moose.
- Gazing down from her perspective of about ten feet off the surface, boot prints showed up in the dust around the craft.
Synonyms
impression, fingerprint, mark;
footprint
2.1 (prints) Fingerprints: the FBI matched the prints to those of the robbery suspect...
- Upon arrest, a computer matched his prints with fingerprints left at the scene of the Park Avenue murder.
- The lab also confirmed that Bill's fingerprints were the only prints on the letter opener.
- But this is the ‘Rolls Royce’ version and it is likely that the prints from only two fingers will be used on the cards on the grounds of cost.
3A picture or design printed from a block or plate or copied from a painting by photography: the walls were hung with sporting prints...
- Apart from paintings her work included prints and designs for stained glass and tapestries.
- The current exhibition brings together more than 300 paintings, drawings, prints, watercolors and sculptures.
- Ultimately, Pieter Bruegel's paintings and prints were the weightiest works deriving from the idiom.
Synonyms
reproduction, copy, replica, imitation, facsimile, duplicate
picture, design, engraving, etching, lithograph, silk screen, linocut, monoprint, plate, cut, woodcut, vignette
3.1A photograph printed on paper from a negative or transparency: please send a black-and-white or colour print to the editor...
- For sharp prints good contact between the negative and sensitized paper is critical.
- Just under the water sheet, you can see dim grass photographs, two prints coloured to the temperature of glass that glint from one sky refraction to another.
- When making a print from a negative, parts of the paper are exposed more or less than the rest to hold details in highlights or pull detail from shadows.
Synonyms
photograph, photo, snap, snapshot, shot, picture;
positive, still, proof, enlargement;
British enprint
3.2A copy of a motion picture on film, especially a particular version of it: he screened his own print of the film at festivals around the world...
- A slight flicker is evident from time to time, and there are numerous small scratches in both the film print and the soundtrack.
- It's a bad print of a film that hasn't been seen much over the past 39 years.
- Don't miss this opportunity to see a beautiful print of a film that might very well be one of the best you'll see all year.
4A piece of fabric or clothing with a coloured pattern or design printed on it: light summer prints [as modifier]: a floral print dress...
- Natasha, Vivienne and company modelled pastel richly coloured print dresses and two pieces ideal for summer weddings, the races and parties.
- For a print fabric, convert the front pattern piece to a full piece instead of the half piece with a foldline.
- Authentic Chinese patterns come to life in silk jacquards, prints and exquisite beaded pieces.
4.1A pattern or design printed on a garment or fabric: the blouse is available in an assortment of colours and prints...
- Use patches on garments with simple lines made of solid fabric or subtle prints, letting the patches, rather than the garment, be the focal point.
- The usual choice is a solid-color opaque fabric, but you might consider a print lining under a plain color or even a patterned sheer.
- The skirt is a houndstooth print with black leather trim and a fringe at the hem.
Phrases
appear in print
in print
out of print
the printed word
Derivatives
printless
Origin
Middle English (denoting the impression made by a stamp or seal): from Old French preinte 'pressed', feminine past participle of preindre, from Latin premere 'to press'.
press from Middle English:
Both press and print (Middle English) can be traced back to Latin premere, ‘to press’, as can pressure (Late Middle English). Journalists and the newspaper industry have been known as the press, in reference to printing presses, since the late 18th century, although before that a press was a printing house or publisher. Another name for journalists, used since the 1830s or 1840s, is the fourth estate. It was originally used of the then unrepresented mass of people: Henry Fielding wrote in 1752 ‘None of our political writers…take notice of any more than three estates, namely, Kings, Lords, and Commons…passing by in silence that very large and powerful body which form the fourth estate in this community…The Mob.’ By the middle of the 19th century it was firmly established for the press. Carlyle wrote in 1841 ‘Burke said there were three Estates in Parliament, but in the Reporters’ Gallery…there sat a fourth Estate more important far than they all.’ Burke has been credited with the term, but no evidence beyond Carlyle has yet been found. Press the flesh is US slang from the 1920s meaning ‘to shake hands’. These days it is generally used of celebrities or politicians greeting crowds by shaking hands with random people. The heyday of the press gang, a group employed to force men to join the navy, was the 18th and early 19th centuries, but the first record of the term comes before 1500. Press-ganging people was really a form of arbitrary conscription, a word that appears in Late Middle English in the literal sense of ‘writing down together’ from Latin con ‘with’ and scribere ‘write’, but which was only introduced in the modern sense of compulsory enlistment in Britain in 1916, during the First World War, although the word was first recorded in 1800. Depress (Late Middle English) has the basic sense of ‘press down’.