Linotypes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of printing machine that casts metal type, specifically enabling the creation of entire lines of text for typesetting
2. Referring to the technology that revolutionized typesetting by allowing quick production of metal types in lines, facilitating faster printing processes
3. Describing mechanical devices used historically in printing that efficiently transformed typesetting by producing uniform lines of text in a single operation

Etymology: "Linotypes" is the third-person singular present form of "linotype," so the noun-form story belongs to the machine name itself. The Linotype was a typesetting machine that cast an entire line of type as a single metal slug, rather than assembling individual letters one by one. Its name became so widely used for the machines that it was genericized: the trademark stopped referring only to one manufacturer's product and came to name the whole category of line-casting equipment. The name itself is a trademark, first used by the company that built the machines, and the same process of genericization is recorded for many brand names that outlived their makers' control of them. Because of this, a plural such as "linotypes" refers to several machines of this kind, and the form is no longer tied to a single company's product.