printer

Noun

printer (plural printers)

1. One who makes prints.
   • Old Japanese colour-prints are printed on a sheet of mulberry-bark paper, and are the product of three different craftsmen: the artist who drew the original design, the block-maker or engraver who transferred the design to the wood, and the printer.1922, Basil Stewart, “How Colour-prints were Produced”, in Subjects Portrayed in Japanese Colour-prints: A Collector’s Guide to All the Subjects Illustrated including an Exhaustive Account of the...

   Synonyms:

   printmaker, printworker

2. The operator of a printing press or the owner of a printing business; (metonymic) any printing business.
   • IMPRINTED at London in Fleteſtrete by Thomas Berthelet, printer to the kynges highnes, the ſeconde of July, the yere of our lorde. M. DXLV. Cum priuilegio ad imprimendum ſolum.1545 July 2, Thomas Elyot, A Preservative agaynste Deth, Imprinted at London in Fletestrete: By Thomas Berthelet, printer to the kynges highnes, →OCLC, colophon
   • The Court doth Declare, as formerly ſo now, That no Apprentices be taken into any Printing-houſe, otherwiſe than according to this Proportion following, (viz.) ever Maſter Printer that is, or hath been Maſter or Upper Warden of his Company, may have three Apprentices at one time and no more, and...1637 July 11, John Rushworth, “[Appendix.] A Decree of Star-Chamber Concerning Printing, Made the Eleventh Day of July Last Past, 1637”, in Historical Collections. The Second Volume of the Second...
3. A device, usually attached to a computer, used to print text or images onto paper; an analogous device capable of producing three-dimensional objects.
   • The use of the Hughes type printer is extending on the main circuits, where speed of transmission is a great object; but it is highly improbable that it will ever be adopted, except on main circuits.1872 February 24, “Telegraph Instruments”, in The Mechanics’ Magazine and Journal of Science, Arts, and Manufactures, volume XCVI, London: Mechanics' Magazine Offices, 166, Fleet Street, and 85...
   • By the use of these keys in conjunction with the other keys, the operator has perfect control over the receiving printer at the distant station.1903, “The Rowland Multiplex Printing Telegraph System”, in Telegraph Age. A Semi-monthly Journal Devoted to Telegraphy, volume XX, New York, N.Y.: J[ohn] B. Taltavall, →OCLC, page 461, column 1