Mackle

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. A printing flaw where overlapping impressions create double or smudged images
2. A defect in printing characterized by uneven or doubled marks that blur the original image
3. An error in printing that results in superimposed or shadowed visuals, making the image unclear

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "mackle" is that it was once a noun for a printing flaw, and the verb was later coined from a joke about a name. The earlier form, "macle," came from "macule," a Latin-derived word meaning a spot or blemish. In printing, a macle was a blurred or doubled impression, the kind produced when a page slipped or the type was double-struck, and "mackle" took on that sense of a smudged or ghosted image. The verb's modern life owes much to a playful back-formation. Someone reading the word "Macklemore" split it into "mackle" plus "more," and from a joke, "I wish he would mackle less," the verb took root in printing jargon. Working backwards from a name to a verb in this way is a classic move in wordplay, where a sound is read as two words rather than one. The origin of the name "Macklemore" itself is unclear. It may be a corruption of "McLemore," or it may have been a childhood coinage by the person who bore it, and nobody has settled which.