a process, now often replaced by more advanced methods, for making metal printing plates by taking a mold of composed type or the like in papier-mâché or other material and then taking from this mold a cast in type metal.
a plate made by this process.
a set form; convention.
Sociology. a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group: The cowboy and Indian are American stereotypes.
verb (used with object),ster·e·o·typed,ster·e·o·typ·ing.
to make a stereotype of.
to characterize or regard as a stereotype: The actor has been stereotyped as a villain.
1798, "method of printing from a plate," from French stéréotype (adj.) "printing by means of a solid plate of type," from Greek stereos "solid" (see sterile) + French type "type." Noun meaning "a stereotype plate" is from 1817. Meaning "image perpetuated without change" is first recorded 1850, from the verb in this sense, which is from 1819. Meaning "preconceived and oversimplified notion of characteristics typical of a person or group" is recorded from 1922. Stereotypical is attested from 1949.
