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• line engraving
  line engraving

  noun

  a technique of engraving in which all effects are produced by variations in the width and density of lines incised with a burin.
• line-engraving
  line-engraving

  noun

  the art or process of hand-engraving in intaglio and copper plate

line engraving

American  

noun

1. a technique of engraving in which all effects are produced by variations in the width and density of lines incised with a burin.

2. a metal plate so engraved.

3. a print or picture made from it.

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line-engraving British  

noun

1. the art or process of hand-engraving in intaglio and copper plate

2. a plate so engraved

3. a print taken from such a plate

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Other Word Forms

• line engraver noun
• line-engraver noun

Etymology

Origin of line engraving

First recorded in 1800–10

Example Sentences

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 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

A mariner's card, set into the opening with a metal vernier scale, is in the usual form of the mariner's compass card of the 18th century; it is executed as a line engraving.

From Early American Scientific Instruments and Their Makers by Bedini, Silvio A.

Here flourished a brilliant community of artists, craftsmen, dealers, and connoisseurs; woodcutting, etching, and line engraving were highly developed and the printing offices made extensive use of woodcuts for decoration and illustration.

From John Baptist Jackson 18th-Century Master of the Color Woodcut by Kainen, Jacob

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.