mezzotint
Americannoun
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a method of engraving on copper or steel by burnishing or scraping away a uniformly roughened surface.
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a print produced by this method.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a method of engraving a copper plate by scraping and burnishing the roughened surface
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a print made from a plate so treated
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of mezzotint
First recorded in 1730–40, mezzotint is from the Italian word mezzotinto half-tint. See mezzo, tint
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
An eighteenth-century mezzotint of a bust of Galen, by John Faber after a drawing by Peter Paul Rubens.Credit:
From Nature • Aug. 19, 2018
The same year, it bought his mezzotint “Reflections,” a scene of boaters in Central Park with the buildings of Fifth Avenue in the background.
From New York Times • Apr. 28, 2016
Look at James's "Casting the Runes", in which an advertisement in an "electric tram" brings the first shudder, or how a doll's house, a mezzotint or hotel bedsheets can become eldritch.
From The Guardian • Nov. 7, 2012
You'll see all the talents of the Richland artist in this 15-year retrospective — etching, drypoint, mezzotint, Chine colle and engraving.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 18, 2012
The Mixed Style is based on mezzotint, which, still forming the great mass of shading, is in this method combined with etching in the darker, and stipple in the more delicate parts.
From The New Gresham Encyclopedia Volume 4, Part 2: Ebert to Estremadura 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.
