Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In printing, a small composition-roller used for triturating and spreading the ink on a table or slab and daubling it on a platen or disk.
  • noun One who or that which brays like an ass.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An implement for braying and spreading ink in hand printing.
  • noun One that brays like an ass.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A hand printing roller used in to spread a thin even layer of ink.
  • noun One who brays, or makes the sound of a donkey.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • A beechen implement, resembling somewhat our potato masher, and called the "brayer," was used to manipulate the ink as it lay on the table; an iron shovel, known as the "slicer," being used to portion out from the mass of ink such quantities as were needed from time to time for the brayer.

    The Building of a Book A Series of Practical Articles Written by Experts in the Various Departments of Book Making and Distributing Various

  • Or the paper she tested the ink brayer on while making the monotype?

    Regretsy – No Comparison 2010

  • At a minimum look for a water-based fabric ink pad or ink that you can apply to the stamp with a brayer.

    5 Ways to Make Your Own Fabric Labels 2009

  • May 22, 2006, 6: 32 pm mortgage brokers san diego says: mortgage brokers sandiego heightened helpless: Durango pooling brayer?

    The Volokh Conspiracy » What he said: 2004

  • My son played with my brayer all day... and then HAD to have it for Nap time.

    How Much Do You Love Your Brayer? Sarah Moore 2006

  • My son played with my brayer all day... and then HAD to have it for Nap time.

    Archive 2006-08-01 Sarah Moore 2006

  • It's kind of funny because Arthur is sitting straight up, but with her eyes closed. she's really cute. xo Twyla. oh yeah - holly gave me a really awesome present for my birthday - a brayer.

    withkerth Diary Entry withkerth 2003

  • French, you know: Il faut le battre, le fer, le brayer, le petrir ....

    Anna Karenina 2003

  • Panurge the calf, Panurge the whiner, Panurge the brayer, would it not become thee much better to lend us here a helping hand than to lie lowing like a cow, as thou dost, sitting on thy stones like a bald-breeched baboon?

    Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel 2002

  • God that made me, you might give a couple of brays odds to the best and most finished brayer in the world; the tone you have got is deep, your voice is well kept up as to time and pitch, and your finishing notes come thick and fast; in fact, I own myself beaten, and yield the palm to you, and give in to you in this rare accomplishment. '

    Don Quixote 2002

Comments

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  • Not a donkey, but a small hand roller, typically used in printmaking to spread ink.

    September 24, 2007

  • "Place the wet paper on the cabinet. Use a soft, wet brayer to squeegee out the bubbles. Using wet fingers to smooth out the paper also works."

    - Warhol Kitchen.

    September 7, 2009