typesetting machine
Definition
Noun: A machine used in printing to arrange or set type, creating composed text ready for printing. It mechanizes the process of assembling individual characters into lines and pages.
Usage
The term refers specifically to the mechanical or electronic equipment used for typesetting. It describes the machine itself, not the process or the person operating it. * The newspaper upgraded its old typesetting machine to a modern digital system. * Before computers, printing houses relied on large, complex typesetting machines.
Advanced Usage
- Historical Context: In discussions of printing history, "typesetting machine" often specifically refers to hot metal typesetting machines like the Linotype or Monotype, which cast lines of type from molten metal.
- The invention of the Linotype typesetting machine revolutionized newspaper production in the late 19th century.
Variants and Related Words
- Typesetter (Noun): This word can be ambiguous. It primarily refers to a person who sets type, but it is also sometimes used as a synonym for a typesetting machine.
- Composing Machine (Noun): A near-synonym, emphasizing the function of composing text.
- Linotype (Noun): A proprietary name for a specific brand of hot metal line-casting typesetting machine.
- Phototypesetter (Noun): A typesetting machine that creates text by projecting light through a film negative of characters onto photographic paper.
Synonyms
- Composing machine
- Typesetter (when referring to the machine)
Related Phrases
- To operate a typesetting machine: Describes the action of using the machine.
- He was trained to operate a typesetting machine.
Noun
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a printer that sets textual material in type
