galley proof

American  

noun

Printing.

1. a proof, originally one set from type in a galley, taken before the material has been made up into pages and usually printed as a single column of type with wide margins for marking corrections.

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galley proof British  

noun

1. Often shortened to: galley. a printer's proof, esp one taken on a long strip of paper from type in a galley, used to make corrections before the matter has been split into pages

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Etymology

Origin of galley proof

First recorded in 1885–90

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

galley proof

If journalism is the first draft of history, documentary filmmaking is often an overdue, dog-eared galley proof with no cover art.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 25, 2025

Cuarón received the 2015 novel that the series is based on from author Renée Knight about a decade ago as a galley proof.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2024

For the next seven years or so, all the way to galley proof in 1984, McCarthy whittled Blood Meridian down into the lean nightmare we now know.

From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2012

At length their leader arose, produced sheets of galley proof and read from midnight until nearly dawn.

From Time Magazine Archive

There is preserved in the pocket-books of some old printers in the West the galley proof of a doggerel rhyme read by him at the printers' banquet, at St. Joseph, Mo., January 1st, 1876.

From Eugene Field, a Study in Heredity and Contradictions — Volume 1 by Slason Thompson

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