Glossary
This updated glossary of printing terms is used by today's printing industry. These terms allow customers to better understand how their orders are processed and communicate with Printex Same-Day Printing.Accordion fold: Bindery term, two or more parallel folds that open like an accordion.
Against the grain: At right angles to direction of paper grain.
Alteration: Change in copy of specifications after production has begun.
Author's corrections: Also know as "AC's". Changed and additions in copy after it has been typeset.
Back up: Printing the second side of a sheet already printed on one side.
Bind: To fasten sheets or signatures with wire, thread, glue. or by other means.
Bindery: The finishing department of a print shop or firm specializing in finishing printed products.
Blanket: The thick rubber mat on a printing press that transfers ink from the plate to paper.
Bleed: Printing that goes to the edge of the sheet after trimming.
Bond & carbon: Business form with paper and carbon paper.
Bond paper: Strong durable paper grade used for letterheads and business forms.
Break for color: Also known as a color break. To separate mechanically or by software the parts to be printed in different colors.
Brightness: The brilliance or reflectance of paper.
Bulk pack: Boxing printed product without wrapping or banding.
Butt: Joining images without overlapping.
Butt fit: Printed colors that overlap one row of dots so they appear to butt.
Carbonless: Pressure sensitive writing paper that does not use carbon.
Camera-ready copy: Print ready art.
Coated paper: A clay coated printing paper with a smooth finish.
Collate: A finishing term for gathering paper in a precise order.
Color bar: A quality control term regarding the spots of ink color on the tail of a sheet.
Color correction: Methods of improving color separations.
Color filter: Filters uses in making color separations, red, blue, green.
Color key: Color proofs in layers of acetate:
Color matching system: A system of formulated ink colors used for communicating color.
Color separations: The process of preparing artwork, photographs, transparencies, or computer generated art for printing by separating into the four primary printing colors.
Comb bind: To plastic comb bind by inserting the comb into punched holes.
Contrast: The tonal change in color from light to dark.
Copy: All furnished material or disc used in the production of a printed product.
Cover paper: A heavy printing paper used to cover books, make presentation folders, etc.
Crash number: Numbering paper by pressing an image on the first sheet which is transferred to all parts of the printed set.
Crop: To cut off parts of a picture or image.
Crop marks: Printed lines showing where to trim a printed sheet.
Cyan: One of four standard process colors. The blue color.
Density: The degree of color or darkness of an image or photograph.
Die: Metal rule or imaged block used to cut or place an image on paper in the finishing process.
Die cutting: Curing images in or out of paper.
Dot: An element of halftones. Using a loupe you will see that printed pictures are made many dots.
Drop-out: Portions of artwork that do not print.
Dummy: A rough layout of a printed piece showing position and finished size.
Emboss: Pressing an image into paper so that it will create a raised relief.
Flood: To cover a printed page with ink, varnish, or plastic coating.
Flop: The reverse side of an image.
Foil: A metallic or pigmented coating on plastic sheets or rolls used in foil stamping and foil embossing.
Foil emboss: Foil stamping and embossing a image on paper with a die.
Foil stamping: Using a die to place a metallic or pigmented image on paper.
4-color-process: The process of combining four basic colors to create a printed color picture or colors composed from the basic four colors.
French fold: Two folds at right angles to each other.
Generation: Stages of reproduction from original copy. A first generation reproduction yields the best quality.
Gloss: A shiny look reflecting light.
Grain: The direction in which the paper fiber lie.
Grippers: The metal fingers on a printing press that hold the paper as it passes through the press.
Hairline: A very thin line or gap about the width of a hair or 1/100 inch.
Halftone: Converting a continuous tone to dots for printing.
Hard copy: The output of a computer printer, or typed text sent for typesetting.
Highlight: The lightest areas in a picture or halftone.
Image area: Portion of paper on which ink can appear.
Impression: Putting an image on paper.
Imprint: Adding copy to a previously printed page.
Indicia: Postal information place on a printed product.
Knock out: To mask out an image.
Laid finish: Simulating the surface of handmade paper.
Laminate: To cover with film, to bond or glue one surface to another.
Lines per inch: The number of rows of dots per inch in a halftone.
Loupe: A magnifying glass used to review a printed image, plate and position film.
Magenta: Process red, one of the basic colors in process color.
Matte finish: Dull paper or ink finish.
Mechanical separation: Mechanical art overlay for each color to be printed.
Middle tones: The tones in a photograph that are approximately half as dark as the shadow area.
Negative: The image on film that makes the white areas of originals black and black areas white.
Offsetting: Using an intermediate surface used to transfer ink.
Offset paper: Term for uncoated book paper.
Ok sheet: Final approved color inking sheet before production begins.
Opacity: The amount of show-through on a printed sheet. The more opacity or the thicker the paper the less show-through. (The thicker/heavier the paper the higher the cost.)
Outline halftone: Removing the background of a picture or silhouetting an image in a picture.
Overrun or overs: Copies printed in excess of the specified quantity. (Printing trade terms allow for + - 10 % to represent a completed order.)
Page count: Total number of pages in a book including blanks.
Perfect bind: A type of binding that glues the edge of sheets to a cover like a telephone book.
Pica: Unit of measure in typesetting. One pica = 1/6 inch.
PMS: The abbreviated name of the Pantone Color Matching System.
Pressure-sensitive paper: Paper material with self sticking adhesive covered by a backing sheet.
Process blue: The blue or cyan color in process printing.
Process colors: Cyan (blue), magenta (process red), yellow (process yellow), black (process black).
Ream: Five hundred sheets of paper.
Register: To position print in the proper position in relation to the edge of the sheet and to other printing on the same sheet.
Register marks: Cross-hair lines or marks on film, plates, and paper that guide strippers, platemakers, pressmen, and bindery personnel in processing a print order from start to finish.
Reverse: The opposite of what you see. Printing the background of an image. For example; type your name on a piece of paper. The reverse of this would be a black piece of paper with a white name.
Saddle stitch: Binding a booklet or magazine with staples in the seam where it folds.
Scanner: Device used to make color separations, halftones, duo tones and tri tones. Also a device used to scan art, pictures or drawings in desktop publishing.
Score: A crease put on paper to help it fold better.
Shadow: The darkest areas of a photograph.
Side stitch: Binding by stapling along one side of a sheet.
Signature: A sheet of printed pages which when folded become a part of a book or publication.
Specifications: A precise description of a print order.
Spine: The binding edge of a book or publication.
Stamping: Term for foil stamping.
Stock: The material to be printed.
Text paper: Grades of uncoated paper with textured surfaces.
Trim marks: Similar to crop or register marks. These marks show where to trim the printed sheet.
Trim size: The final size of one printed image after the last trim is made.
Up: Printing two or three up means printing multiple copies of the same image on the same sheet.
UV coating: Liquid laminate bonded and cured with ultraviolet light. Environmentally friendly.
Varnish: A clear liquid applied to printed surfaces for looks and protection. (UV coating looks better.)
Watermark: A distinctive design created in paper at the time of manufacture that can be easily seen by holding the paper up to a light.
Weight: A term of basis weight when referring to bond papers.
With the grain: Folding or feeding paper into the press or folder parallel to the grain of the paper.
Work and tumble: Printing one side of a sheet and turning it over from the gripper to the tail to print the second side using the same side guide and plate for the second side.
Work and turn: Printing one side of a sheet and turning it over from left to right ussing the same side guides and plate for the second side.
Wove paper: A paper having a uniform unlined surface with a smooth finish.