PRINTER (printer)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: printer   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does printer mean? 

• PRINTER (noun)
  The noun PRINTER has 3 senses:

1. someone whose occupation is printing

2. (computer science) an output device that prints the results of data processing

3. a machine that prints

  Familiarity information: PRINTER used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRINTER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone whose occupation is printing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

pressman; printer

Hypernyms ("printer" is a kind of...):

skilled worker; skilled workman; trained worker (a worker who has acquired special skills)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "printer"):

compositor; setter; typesetter; typographer (one who sets written material into type)

proofreader; reader (someone who reads proof in order to find errors and mark corrections)

Instance hyponyms:

Bodoni; Gianbattista Bodoni (Italian printer who designed the Bodoni font (1740-1813))

Bradford; William Bradford (United States printer (born in England) whose press produced the first American prayer book and the New York City's first newspaper (1663-1752))

Caxton; William Caxton (English printer who in 1474 printed the first book in English (1422-1491))

Benjamin Franklin; Franklin (printer whose success as an author led him to take up politics; he helped draw up the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution; he played a major role in the American Revolution and negotiated French support for the colonists; as a scientist he is remembered particularly for his research in electricity (1706-1790))

Frederic Goudy; Frederic William Goudy; Goudy (United States printer noted for designing typefaces (1865-1947))

Gutenberg; Johann Gutenberg; Johannes Gutenberg (German printer who was the first in Europe to print using movable type and the first to use a press (1400-1468))

Derivation:

print (put into print)

print (reproduce by printing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(computer science) an output device that prints the results of data processing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("printer" is a kind of...):

computer peripheral; peripheral; peripheral device (electronic equipment external to the circuit board that contains the CPU of a computer)

printer; printing machine (a machine that prints)

Domain category:

computer science; computing (the branch of engineering science that studies (with the aid of computers) computable processes and structures)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "printer"):

dot matrix printer; dot printer; matrix printer (a printer that represents each character as a pattern of dots from a dot matrix)

Derivation:

print (put into print)

print (reproduce by printing)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A machine that prints

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

printer; printing machine

Hypernyms ("printer" is a kind of...):

machine (any mechanical or electrical device that transmits or modifies energy to perform or assist in the performance of human tasks)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "printer"):

character-at-a-time printer; character printer; serial printer (a printer that prints a single character at a time)

electrostatic printer (a printer that uses an electric charge to deposit toner on paper)

impact printer (a printer that prints by mechanical impacts)

line-at-a-time printer; line printer (printer that serves as an output device on a computer; prints a whole line of characters at a time)

page-at-a-time printer; page printer (a printer that prints one page at a time)

printer ((computer science) an output device that prints the results of data processing)

thermal printer (a printer that produces characters by applying heat to special paper that is sensitive to heat)

typesetting machine (a printer that sets textual material in type)

addressing machine; Addressograph (a printer that automatically prints addresses on letters for mailing)

Derivation:

print (put into print)

print (reproduce by printing)

 Context examples 

The printer one could, of course, dismiss.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I am sorry, said Mr. Ends, but I paid the printer not an hour ago, and he took my ready change.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Using a 3-D printer, the researchers constructed a handheld component that could attach to a smartphone.

(Smartphone microscope detects nanoparticles and viruses, NIH)

Cornell University researchers led by Christopher Hernandez used a 3D printer to manufacture bone-inspired material made from a urethane methacrylate polymer, then tested for its durability.

(Discovery may lead to osteoporosis treatment, National Science Foundation)

The team used a 3D printer to compare the spots they had seen on scans to the lesions they observed in brain tissue samples autopsied from a patient who had passed away during the trial.

(Smoldering spots in the brain may signal severe multiple sclerosis, National Institutes of Health)

Scientists from the Stanford University School of Medicine announced the invention of a new diagnostic tool that can sort cells by type: a tiny printable chip that can be manufactured using standard inkjet printers for possibly about one U.S. cent each.

(Scientists say new medical diagnostic chip can sort cells anywhere with an inkjet, Wikinews)

Precisely such had the paragraph originally stood from the printer's hands; but Sir Walter had improved it by adding, for the information of himself and his family, these words, after the date of Mary's birth— Married, December 16, 1810, Charles, son and heir of Charles Musgrove, Esq. of Uppercross, in the county of Somerset, and by inserting most accurately the day of the month on which he had lost his wife.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I find likewise that your printer has been so careless as to confound the times, and mistake the dates, of my several voyages and returns; neither assigning the true year, nor the true month, nor day of the month: and I hear the original manuscript is all destroyed since the publication of my book; neither have I any copy left: however, I have sent you some corrections, which you may insert, if ever there should be a second edition: and yet I cannot stand to them; but shall leave that matter to my judicious and candid readers to adjust it as they please.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The Transcontinental owed him four months' salary, and he knew that the printer must be appeased before the associate editor.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

To-day, about three o’clock, the proofs of this paper arrived from the printers.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)