Definitions

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

  • noun Biology The sole member of its group, such as a single species that constitutes a genus.
  • noun A unique print made by pressing paper against a painted or inked surface.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The only, single, or sole type, as a species single in its genus, a genus in its family, etc.; a typical representative alone of its kind.
  • noun A print from a metal plate on which a picture is painted, as in oil-color or printers' ink. Only one proof can be made, since the picture is transferred to the paper.
  • Monotypic.
  • noun The trade-name of a machine which casts and sets in order single types.

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

  • adjective (Biol.) Having but one type; containing but one representative.
  • (Biol.) The only representative of its group, as a single species constituting a genus.
  • A print (but one impression can be taken) made by painting on metal and then transferring the painting to paper by pressure; also, the process of making such prints.
  • A kind of keyboard-operated typesetting and casting machine that makes and sets separate characters.

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

  • noun biology A monotypic taxon.

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

  • noun (biology) a taxonomic group with a single member (a single species or genus)
  • noun a typesetting machine operated from a keyboard that sets separate characters

Etymologies

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Examples

  • It is called the monotype because it casts and sets up the type piece by piece.

    Stories of Inventors The Adventures of Inventors and Engineers Russell Doubleday 1910

  • The reason why the machine is called a monotype is that the letters are made one at a time, and _monos_ is the Greek word for _one_.

    Makers of Many Things Eva March Tappan 1892

  • For instance, a few summers ago the Castelvecchio Museum in Verona, a medieval building brilliantly re-conceived as a museum by architect Carlo Scarpa, mounted a show of Michael Mazur's great black-and-white monotype illustrations for my translation of Dante's Inferno.

    Beach Bummed Robery Pinsky 2011

  • Similarities reveal themselves among works as disparate as a rough-hewn monotype of a prostitute scratching her buttocks and an unfinished canvas of nude bathers in the sea.

    Stolen Moments and Persistent Poses Karen Wilkin 2011

  • For instance, a few summers ago the Castelvecchio Museum in Verona, a medieval building brilliantly re-conceived as a museum by architect Carlo Scarpa, mounted a show of Michael Mazur's great black-and-white monotype illustrations for my translation of Dante's Inferno.

    Beach Bummed Robery Pinsky 2011

  • Gauguin produced this "traced monotype" by inking a piece of paper, overlaying it with another and then drawing on the back of the blank sheet.

    Gauguin at the National Gallery 2011

  • From here, head to Federico Bencini's, where you'll find a bright space full of his magnificent monotype prints created on wood and metal.

    10 of the best spots for art in Barcelona 2011

  • For "OPEN 3," Walter Kravitz an artist whose works typically occupy whole rooms took graphite, ink and charcoal to the surface of his oil-based monotype.

    D.C. artists showcase looks in the wrong direction Kriston Capps 2011

  • From here, head to Federico Bencini's, where you'll find a bright space full of his magnificent monotype prints created on wood and metal.

    10 of the best spots for art in Barcelona 2011

  • The others passed up the studio's newer printing technology, instead using the oil-based monotype.

    D.C. artists showcase looks in the wrong direction Kriston Capps 2011

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