Definition

Noun: 1. A compartmentalized tray for holding metal type: A typesetter's case is a flat, partitioned box or drawer used in traditional printing to store and organize individual pieces of metal type (letters, numbers, spaces, and symbols). Each compartment, or "cell," holds a specific character. 2. The specific organizational system for type: The term also refers to the standardized layout of these compartments, most famously the "upper case" (for capital letters) and "lower case" (for small letters), which is the origin of those common terms.

Usage Examples

• The apprentice learned the layout of the typesetter's case by memory.
• Before digital printing, a compositor would pick each letter by hand from a typesetter's case.
• The terms "uppercase" and "lowercase" are derived from the physical position of the letters in a traditional typesetter's case.

Advanced Usage

• "California job case": This refers to a specific, common style of typesetter's case popular in the United States, which held both uppercase and lowercase letters in a single tray with a standardized arrangement of 89 compartments.

Variants and Related Words

• Type case (n): A more general synonym for a typesetter's case.
• Compositor's case (n): Another synonym, emphasizing its use by the compositor (the person assembling the type).
• Upper case (n): The case or section holding capital letters.
• Lower case (n): The case or section holding small letters.

Synonyms

• Letter board
• Printing case

Related Idioms

• "Mind your p's and q's": A popular theory suggests this idiom originated in printing shops, as the lowercase metal letters 'p' and 'q' looked similar and were stored in adjacent compartments in the typesetter's case, so a compositor had to be careful not to confuse them.

Noun

1. (printing) the receptacle in which a compositor has his type, which is divided into compartments for the different letters, spaces, or numbers
   • for English, a compositor will ordinarily have two such cases, the upper case containing the capitals and the lower case containing the small letters