clip art

American  

noun

1. drawings or illustrations available, as in a book, on a CD-ROM, or in an online gallery, for easy insertion into other material.

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clip art British  

noun

1. a large collection of simple drawings stored in a computer from which items can be selected for incorporation into documents

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Etymology

Origin of clip art

First recorded in 1955–60; so called because the original clip art was clipped or cut out from a printed page, usually in books of illustrations specifically designed for this purpose.

Example Sentences

Wiener, the author, said it was his “strong speculation” that the artwork was made using computer clip art.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 17, 2024

The Moby Dick bot, as well as one that sent out computer clip art from 1994 and one called “weird satellite” have all left Twitter.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 13, 2023

Another time the coach halted a PowerPoint presentation when a marketing slide featured clip art of a football play diagram.

From Washington Post • Jun. 1, 2022

Now, months after we first published this explainer, we’re still seeing headlines about people paying house-money for clip art of rocks — and my mom still doesn’t really understand what an NFT is.

From The Verge • Aug. 18, 2021

Instead of using clip art, we made our own versions out of random things we found around town.

From "P.S. I Miss You" by Jen Petro-Roy