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
So much for the strength of the blast; its delicacy is illustrated by this beautiful example of line engraving, etched on glass by means of the Blast.
From Fragments of science, V. 1-2 by Tyndall, John
The whole work should be taken up again, and done by line engraving, perfectly; and wholly from Pre-Raphaelite designs, with which no other modern work can bear the least comparison.
From The Crown of Wild Olive also Munera Pulveris; Pre-Raphaelitism; Aratra Pentelici; The Ethics of the Dust; Fiction, Fair and Foul; The Elements of Drawing by Ruskin, John
Jackson was interested in broad effects even when leaning heavily on the delicate linear conventions of line engraving.
From John Baptist Jackson 18th-Century Master of the Color Woodcut by Kainen, Jacob
It appeared as though line engraving could not keep pace with the ever-growing demand for pictures, and was therefore combined with stipple to facilitate production.
From Engraving for Illustration Historical and Practical Notes by Kirkbride, Joseph
The formal style of art, the essence of line-engraving, reached its zenith in Albrecht Dürer.
From Rembrandt, With a Complete List of His Etchings by Hind, Arthur Mayger
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.
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
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
Engraving, known variously under the name of copper-plate printing, engraving in taille-douce, and line-engraving, produces the finest stamps figuring in our collections.
From Peeps at Postage Stamps by Johnson, Stanley Currie
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.
