Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A copper printing plate engraved or etched to form a recessed pattern of the matter to be printed.
  • noun A print or engraving made by using such a plate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To engrave or etch on a plate of copper for the production of a printing surface.
  • noun A plate of polished copper on which a writing, picture, or design is made in sunken lines by engraving or etching.
  • noun A print or an impression from such a plate.
  • Engraved or etched on copper, or printed from a copperplate: as, a copperplate engraving.

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

  • noun A plate of polished copper on which a design or writing is engraved.
  • noun An impression on paper taken from such a plate.
  • noun See Plate press, under Plate.

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

  • noun A copper plate, either etched or engraved, to make a recessed pattern.
  • noun A print made from such a plate.
  • noun A style of handwriting based on that used on such prints; English round hand.
  • verb To engrave on and print from a copperplate

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a graceful style of handwriting based on the writing used on copperplate engravings
  • noun an engraving consisting of a smooth plate of copper that has been etched or engraved
  • noun a print made from an engraved copperplate

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

copper+plate, also spelled copper-plate or copper plate. For the plate used for engraving itself in the 1660s. As a term for the printed product from 1817. Of the especially clear writing used in such prints from the 1820s. Use as a verb (the past participle copperplated) is from 1822.

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Examples

  • With this style, the text is etched onto a copperplate, which is pressed into the invitation - creating a raised effect.

    NY1 - Top Stories 2008

  • On the present occasion he took pains to make it even more careful than usual, and the result was that it looked not unlike the "copperplate" handwriting a girl would learn at the convent, though an expert would probably have declared it disguised.

    Sant' Ilario 1881

  • More formal historic scripts, such as copperplate or Spencerian, use ­either a square nib or quill, or a point.

    Education news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk Jon Henley 2010

  • It includes a bandanna, sold as a souvenir, with the design of the first engraved map of Washington and an 1810 copperplate that was used to print money for the Bank of Columbia in Georgetown.

    Albert Small to give Washington-history archives to George Washington U. 2011

  • Underneath that, I wrote “In pleaant Dreams” in what was supposed to be copperplate but ended up looking like bad cursive.

    Kater’s Art » 2009 » May 2009

  • Underneath that, I wrote “In pleaant Dreams” in what was supposed to be copperplate but ended up looking like bad cursive.

    Kater’s Art » Blog Archive » Nightmares in Pleasant Dreams 2009

  • Despite many hours first of tracing, then of copying copperplate examples, my handwriting never became other than serviceable at best.

    The Handwriting Is on the Wall Theodore Dalrymple 2011

  • Printed, in a fine copperplate script were the words ‘Best Supporting Actors’, and then underneath that, there was an address, a URL, and an e-mail address.

    365 tomorrows » Sam Clough : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day 2009

  • But it is still elegant and compleat, and Mama found room to underline or make comments in her copperplate handwriting, using peacock-blue fountain pen ink in delicate lines.

    Archive 2010-01-01 2010

  • But it is still elegant and compleat, and Mama found room to underline or make comments in her copperplate handwriting, using peacock-blue fountain pen ink in delicate lines.

    The Quality of Meter 2010

Comments

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  • An illustration made by using inscribed sheets of copper; the copper sheets are inked and paper is rolled over them to produce the image.

    February 21, 2007