Printer: The Trade, the Person, and the Machine on Your Desk
A printer prints. The word named a trade for four centuries before it was given to a machine, and printing left a mark on everyday English.
A printer is a person or firm that prints, and now also the machine that does it. Printing shaped English more than most trades: *stereotype*, *cliché*, *upper case* and *lower case* all come from the print shop, where type was stored in two cases, capitals in the upper one.
- A person or firm that prints. *Send it to the printer.*
- A machine that prints. *The printer is out of ink.*
- Printer's error. *A printer's error in the first edition.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | printer | A laser printer. |
| Plural | printers | Two printers. |
| Verb | Print two copies. | |
| Noun | printing | The third printing. |
| Related | press | The printing press. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The printer has run out of toner.The machine.
- The book went back to the printer.The firm.
- The proofs came back from the printers.British usage often makes the firm plural.
Words from the print shop
- Upper and lower case — where capitals and small letters were kept
- Stereotype — a solid plate cast from set type
- Cliché — from the sound of a stereotype plate being made
- Leading — the space between lines, once strips of lead
- Out of sorts — a printer short of the letters he needed
From *print*, from Old French *preinte*, an impression, from Latin *premere*, to press — the same root as *press*, *express* and *impress*.
Where do upper and lower case come from?
From the two wooden cases holding type. Capitals sat in the upper case and small letters in the lower one, within easy reach.
What is a cliché in printing?
A stereotype plate. The French name is said to imitate the sound of the plate being cast, and the figurative sense followed.