a technique of engraving in which all effects are produced by variations in the width and density of lines incised with a burin.
a metal plate so engraved.
a print or picture made from it.
the art or process of hand-engraving in intaglio and copper plate
a plate so engraved
a print taken from such a plate
First recorded in 1800–10
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He gave it last week to Thomas W. Nason of Reading, Mass. for a finicky line engraving of two hayricks, a barn, a dying oak tree.
From Time Magazine Archive
The 18 woodcut tradition mimicked line engraving and was confined chiefly to tiny blocks wrought with the utmost delicacy.
From John Baptist Jackson 18th-Century Master of the Color Woodcut by Kainen, Jacob
Believe me, photography can do against line engraving just what Madame Tussaud's wax-work can do against sculpture.
From On the Old Road Vol. 1 (of 2) A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and Literature by Ruskin, John
I could not succeed in expressing the variation and chequering of color in marble, by real tints in the print; and have been content, therefore, to give them in line engraving.
From The Stones of Venice, Volume II (of 3), by Ruskin, John
The compass card, made from a line engraving, is identical in each of the three examples.
From Early American Scientific Instruments and Their Makers by Bedini, Silvio A.
In the one case the composer desired to have a beautiful weaving of the parts—clear as the lines in a line-engraving.
From Music Talks with Children by Tapper, Thomas
To my eye it explains Mr. Lincoln far more than the most elaborate line-engraving which has been produced.
From McClure's Magazine December, 1895 by Tarbell, Ida M.
Technically one of these arts, that of line-engraving on copper, sprang from the craft of the goldsmith and metal-chaser; while that of wood-engraving sprang from the craft of the printers of pattern-blocks and playing cards.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 8 "Dubner" to "Dyeing" by Various
Dry-point, though generally regarded as a branch of etching, as it is so constantly used on the same plate as bitten work, is in reality more akin to line-engraving.
From Rembrandt, With a Complete List of His Etchings by Hind, Arthur Mayger
As a work of art, we repeat, this is beyond question the finest instance of line-engraving yet executed on this continent.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 109, November, 1866 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
