copperplate
/ˈkɑpərˌpleɪt/
copperplate means A copper plate, either etched or engraved, to make a recessed pattern. It carries an Arena rating of 1553, earned across 13 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, copperplate ranks #944 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #3,323 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #3,344 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #5,020 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words.
copperplate is pronounced /ˈkɑpərˌpleɪt/.
Why “copperplate” is a great word
A style of handwriting characterized by its elegant, flowing, and highly slanted letters, originally derived from the script engraved on copper printing plates. From copper (the metal) + plate (a flat sheet). First attested for the engraved plate in the 1660s, for the printed product from 1817, and for the handwriting style from the 1820s. Unlike “spencerian,” which denotes a specific, oval-based American system with rhythmic shading, or “print,” which signifies the uniform, disconnected forms of type, copperplate is the broader, fluid ideal of pointed-pen calligraphy. It is the graceful, disciplined arc of the upstroke, the deliberate, weighted pressure that pools ink into a tiny well of darkness, and the precise, almost mechanical shading that transforms a hairline into a swollen curve—a performed geometry of control that aspires to the permanence of the engraved plate from which it takes its name.
Etymology
From copper + plate. For the plate used for engraving: in the 1660s. As a term for the printed product: from 1817. Of the especially clear writing used in such prints: from the 1820s. Use as a verb (the past participle copperplated) is from 1822.
noun
- A copper plate, either etched or engraved, to make a recessed pattern.
- A print made from such a plate.
- A style of handwriting based on that used on such prints; English round hand.e.g.“1999. Stardust, Neil Gaiman, page 36 (2001 Perennial paperback edition).
The village school was a fine school […] He learned his reading and had a fair copperplate hand.”
verb
- To engrave on and print from a copperplate.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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