Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A fine parchment made from calfskin, lambskin, or kidskin and used for the pages and binding of books.
- noun A work written or printed on this parchment.
- noun A heavy off-white fine-quality paper resembling this parchment.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The skin of calves prepared for writing, printing, or painting by long exposure in a bath of lime and by repeated rubbings with a burnisher; also, the skin of goats or kids similarly prepared.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A fine kind of parchment, usually made from calfskin, and rendered clear and white, -- used as for writing upon, and for binding books.
- noun a fine kind of cotton fabric, made very transparent, and used as a tracing cloth.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A type of
parchment paper made from theskin of alamb , baby goat, orcalf . - noun A
writing paper of very high quality.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun fine parchment prepared from the skin of a young animal e.g. a calf or lamb
- noun a heavy creamy-colored paper resembling parchment
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Among the highlights will be a striking leaf with gold script on blue vellum from the celebrated "Blue Qur'an" produced in North Africa or the Near East in the ninth-10th century (estimate: £ 200,000 - £ 300,000).
Buying Islamic, Indian Art Margaret Studer 2010
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If whole generations -- whole cultures -- were enabled, by such artistry, to see their own illusions as artifacts in vellum (or celluloid, or CRT), much would have been accomplished.
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They are all printed from large, clear type on a superior quality of flexible paper and bound in English vellum cloth, assorted colors, containing charming female heads lithographed in twelve colors, as inlays; the titles being stamped in harmonizing colors of ink or foil.
The Girls at Mount Morris Amanda Minnie Douglas 1873
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The fifty-eight pages are sewn in a single gathering and bound with a sheet of old vellum, which is now partially discolored from use.
Carolyn Vega: The ABCs of an Unknown Duchemin Carolyn Vega 2011
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The fifty-eight pages are sewn in a single gathering and bound with a sheet of old vellum, which is now partially discolored from use.
Carolyn Vega: The ABCs of an Unknown Duchemin Carolyn Vega 2011
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The fifty-eight pages are sewn in a single gathering and bound with a sheet of old vellum, which is now partially discolored from use.
Carolyn Vega: The ABCs of an Unknown Duchemin Carolyn Vega 2011
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The fifty-eight pages are sewn in a single gathering and bound with a sheet of old vellum, which is now partially discolored from use.
Carolyn Vega: The ABCs of an Unknown Duchemin Carolyn Vega 2011
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The fifty-eight pages are sewn in a single gathering and bound with a sheet of old vellum, which is now partially discolored from use.
Carolyn Vega: The ABCs of an Unknown Duchemin Carolyn Vega 2011
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The four corners of every book, however, should always be protected by leather or, better still, by vellum, which is a firmer material -- otherwise they will rapidly wear off, and the boards will break easily at their corners.
A Book for All Readers An Aid to the Collection, Use, and Preservation of Books and the Formation of Public and Private Libraries Ainsworth Rand Spofford
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They imitated the old vellum so closely that it was even called vellum and is so known to this day.
chained_bear commented on the word vellum
I remember reading in college that, during the Middle Ages, it took forty sheep to make one Bible. Forty sheep! I still can't really believe that.
February 13, 2007
reesetee commented on the word vellum
I believe it. After all, EVERY page was vellum. You don't want to know about the process, either. Yuck.
When I used to catalogue rare books, I always found it fascinating that you could sometimes still see the scars and blemishes from the skin of the unfortunate animal(s) used to make the vellum.
February 13, 2007
dailyword commented on the word vellum
Adso used this word in "The Name Of The Rose" when he was talking about the materials that a monk needed for his work.
June 12, 2012