Definition

1. Noun:
   • A mechanical device used in printing: A "copyholder" is a device that securely holds printed or written text (the "copy") in a position that allows a typesetter or compositor to easily read and transfer it into type.
   • A person who holds a copy: In historical legal or property contexts, a "copyholder" was a tenant who held land according to the custom of the manor, recorded in the manor's court roll (a "copy").

Usage Examples

• Noun (Printing device):

  • The compositor adjusted the copyholder to keep the manuscript pages steady.
  • Before modern computers, a copyholder was an essential tool in a typesetting workshop.

• Noun (Historical legal term):

  • In medieval England, a copyholder had certain customary rights to the land they worked.
  • The estate records listed him as a copyholder, not a freeholder.

Advanced Usage

• "To sit as a copyholder": To occupy land under the terms of copyhold tenure.
  • His family had sat as copyholders on that plot for generations.

Variants and Related Words

• Copyhold (n): The tenure of land held by a copyholder.
  • The land was transferred by copyhold.
• Typesetter/Compositor (n): The person who uses the copyholder device to set type.

Synonyms

• For the device: Manuscript holder, copy stand.
• For the person: Customary tenant, tenant by copy of court roll.

Notes on Meaning

This word has two distinct meanings from different fields (printing technology and historical law). The printing device meaning is more common in general and technical contexts today. The historical legal meaning is largely obsolete but appears in texts about English land tenure history.

Noun

1. mechanical device used in printing; holds the copy for the compositor