Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

black letter

noun Printing.
  1. a heavy-faced type in a style like that of early European hand lettering and the earliest printed books. blakltr.png
Show More

Origin of black letter

First recorded in 1630–40
Also called text.
Related formsblack-let·ter, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for black letter

Historical Examples of black letter

  • Then a black-letter Bible was brought him, and he read it all to himself at a side-table.

    Put Yourself in His Place

    Charles Reade

  • Roman type, unlike the black-letter, had two distinct origins.

    Printing and the Renaissance

    John Rothwell Slater

  • I do so on the assumption that "Ihon Day" is the Day of black-letter rarity.

  • This ballad was given from a black-letter copy in the Pepys collection.

  • Black-letter, precedents, and technicalities he cared little for.

    Bits of Blarney

    R. Shelton Mackenzie

British Dictionary definitions for black letter

black letter

noun
  1. printing another name for Gothic (def. 10)
Show More
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for black letter

early 17c., from black (adj.); so called to distinguish heavy, old-style printers' types from the ones coming into use then, which are the dominant modern forms, though a style of black letter was preserved in German into 20c.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper