stencil

[ sten-suhl ]

noun

1. a device for applying a pattern, design, words, etc., to a surface, consisting of a thin sheet of cardboard, metal, or other material from which figures or letters have been cut out, a coloring substance, ink, etc., being rubbed, brushed, or pressed over the sheet, passing through the perforations and onto the surface.
2. the letters, designs, etc., produced on a surface by this method.

verb (used with object)

, sten·ciled, sten·cil·ing or (especially British) sten·cilled, sten·cil·ling.

1. to mark or paint (a surface) by means of a stencil.
2. to produce (letters, figures, designs, etc.) by means of a stencil.

stencil

/ ˈstɛnsəl /

noun

1. a device for applying a design, characters, etc, to a surface, consisting of a thin sheet of plastic, metal, cardboard, etc in which the design or characters have been cut so that ink or paint can be applied through the incisions onto the surface
2. a decoration, design, or characters produced in this way

verb

1. to mark (a surface) with a stencil
2. to produce (characters or a design) with a stencil

Derived Forms

• ˈstenciller, noun

Other Words From

• stencil·er especially British, stencil·ler noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of stencil¹

1375–1425; earlier stanesile, late Middle English stansele to ornament with diverse colors or spangles < Middle French estanceler, derivative of estencele a spark, ornamental spangle < Vulgar Latin *stincilla, metathetic variant of Latin scintilla scintilla

Word History and Origins

Origin of stencil¹

C14 stanselen to decorate with bright colours, from Old French estenceler, from estencele a spark, from Latin scintilla

Example Sentences

You design the components of a chip—its wires and semiconductors—and then etch them into a series of “masks,” much as you make a stencil to put a pattern on a T-shirt.

From MIT Technology Review

Presently, the oldest known examples are some 40,000 years in age, consisting of paintings and hand stencils on Sulawesi island in Indonesia and in the El Castillo cave in Spain.

From Time

All graffiti is low-level dissent, but stencils have an extra history.

From Ozy

Gordon picked up a pair secondhand and began to stencil then onto blank canvases with spray paint.

From The Daily Beast

But their main gripe is the stencil-welding spray painter is not actually part of the graffiti world.

From The Daily Beast

As the microbes moved toward the light to carry out photosynthesis, they projected the image of the stencil.

From The Daily Beast

A Banksyesque stencil of Einstein carries a sign bearing the most unBanksyesque: message LOVE IS THE ANSWER.

From The Daily Beast

Long time the girl sat absorbed, her golden colour, her brown-gold hair in harmony with the universal stencil of gold.

From Project Gutenberg

Next lay the stencil in a small shallow dish and pour a small quantity of fresh nitric acid over it.

From Project Gutenberg

The stencil may be given a final cleaning in a dish of benzine or gasoline, which will remove any remaining wax.

From Project Gutenberg

A stencil was cut and copied, and for many days Bouginier's nose appeared on all the walls in Paris.

From Project Gutenberg

Each slight projection makes a hole in the paper, and then the stencil idea begins again.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• arrangement