[a. F. stéréotype adj., f. Gr. στερεό-ς solid + τύπος TYPE sb.
In Fr. the word has only the original adjectival use, and the subst. use = édition stéréotype.]
A. sb.
1. The method or process of printing in which a solid plate of type-metal, cast from a papier-mâché or plaster mold taken from the surface of a forme of type, is used for printing from instead of the forme itself.
1798. Ann. Reg., Chron., 22. The celebrated Didot, the French printer, with a German, named Herman, have announced a new discovery in printing, which they term stereotype.
1809. Europ. Mag., LV. 19. The prospectus of almost every work informs us, that the thing will be done in stereotype.
1816. Q. Rev., XV. 345. The introducer of that mode of printing called Stereotype.
1824. J. Johnson, Typogr., II. xxii. 657. The invention of Stereotype, like that of Printing, is somewhat involved in mystery.
2. A stereotype plate. (In quot. 1817 used transf.)
1817. Gentl. Mag., Dec., 500, note. An obelisk with engraved hieroglyphics upon it—a wooden or copper plate—a medal—are stereotypes.
a. 1823. Hutton, Course Math. (1827), I. 150. [They] are printed with what are called stereotypes, the types in each page being soldered together into a solid mass.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Stereotype, a solid page of metal cast from the letter-press.
1888. Times, 7 Jan., 7/1. He seized the stereotypes and withdrew.
b. In generalized sense.
1823. Encycl. Brit., Suppl. VI. 378/1. The mode of casting stereotype is sufficiently simple. Ibid. A plate of stereotype does not require to be more than the seventh or eighth part of the thickness or height of the ordinary types.
3. fig. Something continued or constantly repeated without change; a stereotyped phrase, formula, etc.; stereotyped diction or usage.
1850. Prescott, in Ticknor, Life (1864), 337. I told the Queen of the pleasure I had in finding myself in a land of friends instead of foreigners,—a sort of stereotype with me.
1877. Morley, Crit. Misc., Ser. II. 91. The growth of brighter ideals … will go on, leaving ever further and further behind them your dwarfed finality and leaden moveless stereotype.
1908. Q. Rev., July, 5. The stereotype of school, newspaper and department prevails.
4. attrib. and Comb., as stereotype art, metal, office, plate; stereotype-founder, manufacturer, printer; stereotype-block, (a) a stereotype plate; (b) a block of iron or wood on which a stereotype plate is fixed; stereotype-press, (a) a press for shaping and drying the mold in which a stereotype is cast; (b) a printing-press in which stereotypes are used.
1801. Tilloch’s Philos. Mag., X. 277. If there would be an advantage in applying the *stereotype art to books of rapid sale.
1859. R. Hunt, Guide Mus. Pract. Geol. (ed. 2), 188. *Stereotype Blocks of Fusible Metal.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Stereotype-block, a block on which a stereotype is mounted to make it type-high.
1813. A. Wilson, in Trans. Soc. Arts, XXVIII. 321. Having resolved to unite the business of a *Stereotype Bookseller to those of a Stereotype Manufacturer and Printer, I propose that [etc.].
1843. Holtzapffel, Turning, I. 325. The *stereotype-cast is nearly as sharp as the original type. Ibid. The *stereotype-founder takes a copy of the entire mass of type in plaster of Paris.
1813. *Stereotype manufacturer [see stereotype bookseller].
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 51. The alloys called type metal, *stereotype metal.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Stereotype-metal.
1804. trans. Freylinghausen’s Abstr. Chr. Relig. before title, Standing Rules of The *Stereotype Office.
1807. Monthly Mag., May, 372/2. The expence of *Stereotype plates … is not 20 l. per cent. of that of moveable type pages.
1872. Yeats, Techn. Hist. Comm., 339. A compound of tin and bismuth is employed in stereotype plates.
1805. Gentl. Mag., March, 250/2. The first production of the new *stereotype press.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Stereotype-press, a small press for use in the clay process [of stereotyping].
1813. *Stereotype printer [see stereotype bookseller].
1820. T. Hodgson, Ess. Stereotype Printing, 119. As a stereotype printer Mr. Wilson must ever rank amongst the most eminent.
B. adj. (Often undistinguishable from the attrib. use of the sb.)
1. lit. Of an edition: Printed by the process described above in A. 1. Also used as an epithet of the process.
1801. Tilloch’s Philos. Mag., X. 268. The processes connected with letter-press-plate or stereotype printing.
1817. Gentl. Mag., Dec., 500, note. At the present Epoch (1800), the art of Printing is become rather retrograde; or we should not hear so much of Stereotype editions.
1820. Milner, Suppl. Mem. Eng. Cath., 243. A small stereotype edition of the New Testament.
1861. Smiles, Engineers, II. 142. Earl Stanhope … also made important improvements in the process of stereotype printing.
2. fig. = STEREOTYPED b. Now somewhat rare.
1824. Morier, Hajji Baba, I. Introd. Ep. p. xxxiv. It is an ingenious expression which I owe to you, sir, that the manners of the East are as it were stereotype.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. III. iii. Cartels by the hundred: which he … answers now always with a kind of stereotype formula.
1846. Hints on Husband-Catching, 20. This same stereotype smile may, of course, be dispensed with after marriage.
1848. Curwen, Singing, Introd. p. xx. Thus is … singing made almost a hopeless thing by the stereotype faults of the Old Notation.
1895. Oracle Encycl., I. 561/1. The style began to assume a stereotype character.
1899. A. Gudeman, in Class. Rev., XIII. 216/1. A veritable mosaic of stereotype ideas.
