compositor

[ kuhm-poz-i-ter ]
See synonyms for compositor on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a person who sets the type or text for printing.

Origin of compositor

1
1325–75 for earlier sense “referee, arbiter”; 1560–70 for current sense; Middle English <Latin: one who composes, equivalent to composi-, variant stem of compōnere (see component, composite) + -tor-tor

Other words from compositor

  • com·pos·i·to·ri·al [kuhm-poz-i-tawr-ee-uhl, -tohr-], /kəmˌpɒz ɪˈtɔr i əl, -ˈtoʊr-/, adjective

Words Nearby compositor

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use compositor in a sentence

  • One of these was an old compositor who had "held a case" in that office for many years.

  • Companies were as hopelessly jumbled and mixed as a galley of type that a compositor has dropped downstairs.

    The Code of the Mountains | Charles Neville Buck
  • Thence the proof passes back again to the compositor, who corrects the type in accordance with the proof-reader's markings.

  • The portion thus given each compositor is called a "take," and its length is determined by circumstances.

  • If many such occur, the proof is again passed to the compositor for further correction and the taking of fresh proofs.

British Dictionary definitions for compositor

compositor

/ (kəmˈpɒzɪtə) /


noun
  1. printing a person who sets and corrects type and generally assembles text and illustrations for printing: Sometimes shortened to: comp

Derived forms of compositor

  • compositorial (kəmˌpɒzɪˈtɔːrɪəl), adjective

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