printing

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

• noun The art, process, or business of producing printed material by means of inked type and a printing press or by similar means.
• noun The act of one that prints.
• noun Matter that is printed.
• noun All the copies of a publication, such as a book, that are printed at one time.
• noun Written characters not connected to one another and resembling those appearing in print.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In general, the art or process of making copies or superficial transfers by impression; the reproduction of designs, characters, etc., on an impressible surface by means of an ink or a pigment (generally oily) applied to the solid surface on which they are engraved or otherwise formed.
• noun The art or process of producing printed matter for reading (including illustrations, etc.) by composition and imposition of types, and their subjection when inked to pressure upon paper in a printing-press; the typographic art; typography in the fullest sense.
• noun In photography, the act or art of obtaining a positive photographic picture from a negative, or a picture in which the lights and shades are true to nature from one in which they are reversed. When based upon the properties of a salt of silver, such printing is called silver-printing, and similarly with other salts.
• noun In ceramics, the art of decorating pottery by means of transfers, either by paper printed with mineral colors or by sheets of gelatin printed in oil.
• noun Advertising-bills, posters, dodgers, window-bills, and the like.

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

• noun The act, art, or practice of impressing letters, characters, or figures on paper, cloth, or other material; the business of a printer, including typesetting and presswork, with their adjuncts; typography; also, the act of producing photographic prints.
• noun See under Block.
• noun (Photog.) a shallow box, usually having a glass front, in which prints are made by exposure to light.
• noun a printing office.
• noun ink used in printing books, newspapers, etc. It is composed of lampblack or ivory black mingled with linseed or nut oil, made thick by boiling and burning. Other ingredients are employed for the finer qualities.
• noun a place where books, pamphlets, or newspapers, etc., are printed.
• noun paper used in the printing of books, pamphlets, newspapers, and the like, as distinguished from writing paper, wrapping paper, etc.
• noun a press for printing, books, newspaper, handbills, etc.
• noun a wheel with letters or figures on its periphery, used in machines for paging or numbering, or in ticket-printing machines, typewriters, etc.; a type wheel.

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

• noun uncountable The process or business of producing printed material by means of inked type and a printing press or similar technology.
• noun uncountable Material that has been printed.
• noun countable All the copies of a publication that have been printed in one batch.
• noun uncountable Written characters that are not joined up.
• verb Present participle of print.

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

• noun reproduction by applying ink to paper as for publication
• noun all the copies of a work printed at one time
• noun the business of producing printed material for sale or distribution
• noun text handwritten in the style of printed matter