printer's devil
printer's devil · printer's devils · printers' devils
An apprentice printerAn apprentice printer.
Meaning
1 senses(dated)An apprentice printer.
an apprentice in a printing establishment
Translations
1 languagesOrigin
Of unclear etymology. The most widely accepted theories are that apprentice printers wereOf unclear etymology. The most widely accepted theories are that apprentice printers were often covered in ink, giving them a demonic appearance, or that they were responsible for errors in manuscripts and thus associated with Titivillus, the supposed devil of scribal errors. See Wikipedia for further details.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: printer's devils / printers' devils| Singular | printer's devil |
|---|---|
| Plural | printer's devils / printers' devils |
regular
Word family
1 related wordsDerivedprinter's devilry
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.