Mimeography

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A reproduction technique that makes use of a stencil to apply ink, enabling the efficient production of numerous identical copies of documents
2. This printing method relies on the use of a stencil and an ink drum to reproduce texts and images in bulk
3. A printing method involving a stencil through which ink is forced to create multiple copies of a document

Etymology: Mimeography is a child of a trademark. The Mimeograph was a stencil duplicating machine patented and sold by A. B. Dick Company, and the name was coined from the Greek "mimeisthai", to imitate, plus "-graph", writing. Because the machine was so widely used in offices for decades, people began to name the process after it, and "mimeography" arose by adding the suffix "-y" to "mimeograph", a pattern that also echoes the older "photography" and "lithography". The word was thus shaped by two sources at once.