typesetter

Noun

typesetter (plural typesetters)

1. (historical) A person who sets type; an employee in a printshop who manually selected pieces of movable type and assembled them for printing.
   • It’s hard to say who has the longest name in history, but a Philadelphia-area typesetter from the early 1900s chose a very long name for himself. Known, among other things, as Hubert Blaine Wolfe+590, Sr., his name has been published in many different forms since.2015 June 29, Dan Lewis, “Why You Can’t Name Your Kid “Albin” (With a Different Spelling)”, in Now I Know, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2025
   • My writing all took place over weekends, and because I only lived about ten miles away, Peter would hot-foot it to my home on a Monday morning to collect a large parcel of hand-typed sheets of copy, for despatch to the typesetters.2023 January 25, Howard Johnston, “Peter Kelly: August 2 1944-December 28 2022”, in RAIL, number 975, page 47

   Synonyms:

   compositor

2. (historical) A machine that combines type in the correct order for printing.