- print (n.)
- c.1300, "impression, mark," from O.Fr. preinte "impression," prop. fem. pp. of preindre "to press," from L. premere (see press (v.1)). Sense of "picture or design from a block or plate" is first attested 1662. Meaning "piece of printed cloth" is from 1756. Out of print "no longer to be had from the publisher" is from 1674. The verb is attested from c.1340, "to impress with a seal, stamp, or die;" Meaning "to set a mark on any surface (including by writing)" is attested from c.1400. Meaning "to run off on a press" is recorded from 1511 (Caxton, 1474, used enprynte in this sense). In reference to textiles, 1588. The verb in the photography sense is recorded from 1851 (the noun from 1853). Meaning "to write in imitation of typography" is first attested 1837 in "Pickwick Papers":
"He always prints, I know, 'cos he learnt writin' from the large bills in the bookin' offices."
The meaning "to record (someone's) fingerprints" is from 1952. Printer is recorded from 1504; in the computer sense, from 1946. Printer's bible so called from mistaken substitution of printers for princes in Psalm cxix.161, which led to the misreading:"Printers have persecuted me without a cause."