Noun pluralprints (some meanings)
Formsprints, printing, printed
Pluralprints (some meanings)
- 1To put text or images onto paper or another surface with a printer or press, making one or more physical copies.
The press can print thousands of newspapers in a single night.
They printed the entire manuscript before the deadline.
UsageThe object is usually the text or picture: print a photo, print a draft; also print out a document.
Similarproduce, reproduce, copy
Note
Pressing a mark into something is still the core of the idea, which is why one word covers ink on paper and pressing a mark into something.
- 2To publish text or images in a book, newspaper, or similar medium.
The journal printed his findings after months of review.
No reputable paper would print such an unverified claim.
UsageUsually the paper or publisher prints something: the paper printed her letter. A writer gets work printed or published.
Similarpublish, run, carry, issue
Note
Used without an object, it means putting your own writing before the public, and the writer is the subject. Alexander Pope, in the Preface to his poetical works, warns that "from the moment he prints, he must expect to hear no more truth."
- 3Material produced on printing presses, such as books and periodicals, taken as a whole or as a means of communication.
Many readers still prefer print, but most of the paper's new subscribers now read it on their phones.
Her poems finally made it into print after years of rejection.
UsageCommon phrases: in print (published), into print, and out of print (no longer printed or sold by the publisher).
Note
As a medium it stands beside television and the internet rather than beside paper, as when people say the internet has not killed print. In print means published on paper, and into print describes getting there, as poems finally do after years of rejection.
- 4A picture produced in multiple copies by a printing process.
He collects limited-edition prints by local artists.
The gallery displayed an original print signed by the artist.
Similarpicture
Note
Printmakers count each sheet pulled from a plate, woodblock or stone as an original, not a copy of a painting. That is why collectors speak of signed and limited-edition prints. Prints can also survive by accident: Railway Magazine reported in 1957 that one had turned up in an arch at Waterloo Dock Goods Station, Liverpool, used as backing for time sheets.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- In fine-art printmaking, impressions taken from a printing matrix are regarded as original works rather than reproductions of paintings. re-printmakers.com
- Original prints are issued in editions and signed. tamarind.unm.edu
- Railway Magazine published the report in 1957. en.wiktionary.org
- The report described an old print discovered in an arch at Waterloo Dock Goods Station, Liverpool, being used as backing for writing time sheets. en.wiktionary.org
- 5A pattern or design printed on fabric, wallpaper, or another surface; also, fabric printed with such a design.
The designer is known for her vivid geometric prints.
He wore a shirt with a paisley print.
UsageUsually after a pattern word: a floral print, an animal print, a paisley print.
- 6Relating to printed publications such as newspapers and magazines, or working as a writer for them.
She spent ten years as a print journalist before moving into television news.
The company cut its print advertising budget in favor of digital campaigns.
UsageUsed before a noun: print journalism, the print edition, print advertising.
- 7To decorate a surface, especially fabric, by stamping colored designs or patterns onto it.
The mill prints intricate floral patterns onto bolts of silk.
Artisans print the cloth using carved wooden blocks dipped in dye.
UsageYou print a pattern on or onto fabric, or print the fabric itself.
- 8The letters and characters that form the text of a document.
The print on the contract was so small she needed a magnifier.
Newspapers once used much larger print than they do today.
UsageSet phrases: small print or fine print (the details in a contract), and large print for big letters.
- 9A photograph reproduced on paper or a similar surface, whether from a film negative or a digital file.
The darkroom produced a sharp black-and-white print.
She ordered extra prints of the vacation photos.
Similarphotograph, photo
Note
In film photography the print is usually the positive made from the negative; today prints also come from digital files. Light passes through the negative onto sensitive paper, which is then developed and fixed. The word marks the step from negative to finished picture, so you order extra prints of a photo or make one in the darkroom. The negative is kept as the source for more prints.
Less common meanings
- 10To write very clearly, forming each letter separately instead of joining them as in cursive.
The teacher asked the children to print their answers neatly.
She printed the address in block capitals on the envelope.
UsageCommon on forms: print your name, print in block capitals; it asks for clear letters, not your signature.
Note
Forms rely on the contrast between printing and signing: print your name here and sign below asks first for legible, separate letters, then for your signature. Children often learn it before cursive, and a second-grader may know only this kind of writing. Its noun partner is handwriting in separate letters.
- 11A mark left on a surface by the ridges of a fingertip.
Investigators lifted a single print from the doorknob.
Her print was found on the murder weapon.
UsagePolice take someone's prints or lift a print from a surface; the full word is fingerprint.
Similarfingerprint
- 12A mark or impression left on a surface by something pressed against it, such as a foot, paw, or shoe.
Investigators photographed a clear boot print in the soft mud beside the back door.
The soft clay kept the print of every finger that touched it.
UsageOften in compounds: footprint, paw print, boot print.
- 13
- 14To display a string of text on the terminal or screen.
The script prints each result to the console as it runs.
Call this function to print the user's input back to them.
UsageUsually print something to the screen, console or terminal.
Similaroutput, display, write, show
Note
A programmer's word for output on a screen, with no paper involved. Printed output is a side effect, not the value a function returns. Beginners often blur the two when printed text looks like a result.
- 15To take a person's fingerprints, typically as part of an official record or booking.
The booking sergeant printed the new arrestee and photographed him.
Detectives wanted to print every employee who had access to the vault.
UsageOften passive: someone is printed or gets printed after an arrest. The object is usually the person.
Similarfingerprint
Note
A character in Eric Lustbader's Pale Saint hopes a suspect "was printed for some minor infraction in some backwater town," since a record would identify him. The object is usually the person, sometimes a finger, while the noun a fingerprint names the mark itself.
- 16A copy of a film, prepared so that it can be projected onto a screen.
The archive restored a damaged print of the 1927 classic.
Projectionists spliced the reels of each print before the screening.
UsageThe usual verb is strike: a print struck from the negative.
Similarcopy
Note
Cinema keeps the copies apart from their source. A print is usually struck from a negative onto film stock for projection in a theater, while the original camera negative or archival master stays behind. Archives restore damaged prints, and projectionists handle prints, never negatives.
- 17To press a mark, shape, or design into or onto a surface; also, to fix something firmly in the mind.
Potters often print a small seal into the base of each bowl before it goes into the kiln.
Every detail of that night was printed on her memory, down to the smell of rain on the porch.
UsageFor memories, usually printed on or in someone's memory or mind.
Note
Older poetry used it for marks that sink in, whether into metal, clay or the mind. In Surrey, a look "will print a thought." Sir John Beaumont's Bosworth Field (1629) has a sword print a dint in a breastplate, and Roscommon has footsteps printed in the clay. The thing pressed in is the object here, which keeps this sense close to the word's root meaning.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
- Older poetry used print for physical impressions and impressions on the mind. en.wiktionary.org
- Surrey used the words “will print a thought” about a look. en.wiktionary.org
- Sir John Beaumont wrote Bosworth Field, first published in 1629. celm.folger.edu
- Bosworth Field describes Edward's sword printing a dint in a breastplate. en.wiktionary.org
- Roscommon wrote of footsteps printed in clay. e-rara.ch
- The sense is connected to the word's origin in impressing or imprinting. en.wiktionary.org
- 18
- 19Of a concealed weapon, to show its outline through clothing because it is poorly hidden.
- 20To produce a microchip by a process that resembles printing an image onto a surface.
- 21To produce an observable value, such as a price or economic figure that markets can see.
- 22A single reported figure or data point, especially a price or economic release that markets watch closely.
- 23A plaster cast molded in bas relief, used as a decorative element on walls or ceilings.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of print apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
It comes from Middle English printen, prenten, a shortened (apheretic) form of emprinten, enprinten ('to impress, imprint'). Close relatives are Dutch prenten ('to imprint') and Middle Low German prenten ('to print, write'). Late Old French printer, preindre ('to press'), which goes back to Latin premere ('to press'), is also comparable.