Industry Terms

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Back Cylinder Print A press failure that allows the image to be placed on the impression cylinder and then on the press sheet.
Back Margin (1) On a single printed page, the back margin is the unprinted area between the type page area and the inner fold of the binding edge. (2) On a press sheet, the back margin is the total distance from one type page to its facingpage, or twice the back margin of a single page.
Back Matter The information printed in the back of a book, such as the appendix, glossary, bibliography, etc.
Back Printing Printing on the back side of a sheet or sheets, implying that the information is of less importance to the reader.
Back Up To print the reverse side of a sheet already printed on one side. Printing is said to back up when the printing areas on both sides are exactly opposite to one another.
Backbone The spine of the book; the part that shows when put on a shelf.
Backer Security Screen A screen that is printed on the back of the check and contains the words "Original Document". A light density screen is used, making it difficult to duplicate when copied or scanned.
Backing and Lining Adding the paper, crash or super, and headbands to a rounded book before the covers are applied. Often called lining up.
Back-light or Back-lit Light is being cast from behind the subject matter in the direction of the digital camera. Using a fill flash or compensating on the exposure will enable the image to receive the proper exposure.
Backlining A paper glued to the bookbinding inside the cover backbone for strengthening it.
Backs The back side of a printed sheet as opposed to the front side of a printed sheet.
Backward Broadside Page Printed information is run sideways on the page.
Bad Break When a hyphenated line breaks incorrectly in the process of typesetting information.
Bagasse Crushed sugar cane or beet refused used in paper making.
Baggy Paper Paper from a web that goes through the press unevenly.
Baggy Roll Defective mill web of paper having variations of caliper or weight across the width of the paper.
Bailment A legal stipulation requiring care of original art work left for someone to review or use.
Band A strip of paper that may be printed or unprinted used to secure a group of paper.
Banding 1. Securing a specific quantity of a product with the use of a strip of paper or a rubber band. 2. Steel, plastic or fiber bands are also used to secure materials such as multiple rolls of paper, skids of sheet stock and skids of finished product. 3. Halftones and screen tints, output by imagesetters or laser printers, sometimes get a defect in them where parallel streaks (a stair steps effect) appear in the dot pattern.
Bangtail The extra flap on the back panel of an envelope, which is detached at the perforation before the envelope is mailed.
Bank Note Paper high quality rag content paper used for records that require permanence.
Bar Code A method of encoding information on documents that allows them to be optically read by computer equipment.
Bar Code Scanner A device used to read bar codes by the use of reflected light.
Bar Code Sorter A machine, controlled by a computer, used to sort letters according to the bar code printed on the mail piece.
Barium Sulfate A white crystalline, water-insoluble powder used as a pigment in printing inks.
Baronial Envelope A square envelope generally used for formal announcements.
Barrier Coat A coating applied to the back of the facestock to help assist the adhesive in sticking to it and to prevent some adhesives from bleeding through or staining the facestock. It is only needed when using certain types of adhesives. Also refered to as primer or sealant coat.
Base The number of different values that can be represented by each digit position; e.g., binary numbering or base 2 has two values for each digit position, 1 and 0. Base 10 numbering has 10 values, 0 through 9.
Base Art The copy that is laid out on the artboard opposed to the overlays. It is generally the color that will print in black or the color to be used on the majority of the copy.
Base Color A color used as a base on which other colors are printed.
Base Stock A Paper that can be further processed.
Baseline In typesetting, it refers to the base (invisible) line on which letters set.
Baseline Shift When type is raised above or lowered below the baseline of the text.
Baseline-to-Baseline The measurement, usually in points, of the distance from the baseline of one line to the baseline of the following line. This is also called leading.
Basic Sheet Size Usually 17 x 22, but varies depending on the type of sheet; used to determine substance weight.
Basic Size The standard size (in inches) for paper - 25x38 for book papers, 20 x 26 for cover papers, etc.
Basis Weight The weight in pounds per ream of paper cut to its basic size in inches.
Bastard Copy Typesetting copy that is set in unusual widths or sizes or odd runarounds.
Bastard Progs Color proofs showing all combinations of the four-color printing process.
Bastard Size Nonstandard sizes of type or copy.
Batch The grouping of logical amounts of data for proofing and entering into a system.
Battered Damaged or worn type that shows up on proofs or the final printed product.
Bearers Steel rings on presses that assist in the proper meshing of gears.
Beater Mechanical refiner which crushes pulp in order to prepare it for paper making.
Bed The base metal surface on which cutting is performed from the guillotine.
Bed Knife A cutting blade in a paper sheeter.
Belt Press A printing press that takes a paper web and brings it to a bound book in one operation.
Benday A technique for producing shading or tone in line drawings and photographs by overlaying a fine screen or pattern of dots on the original artwork.
Beta Site A test site for computer software or systems.
Between Set Perforations The perforations in a continuous form which marks the end of one and beginning of the next one.
Bevel A three-dimensional edge effect applied to the border of a graphic, such as buttons.
Bezier Curve The depiction of a character, symbol, or graphic (by its outline) used by graphic design software to define shapes.
Bible Paper An uncoated, strong yet lightweight paper used for thick publications where low bulk is required.
Bi-Directional Read The ability of a scanner to read data from left to right or right to left.
Bill of Lading A receipt given by a carrier for goods accepted for transportation.
Bimetal Plate A printing plate used for long runs that is comprised of a combination of metals.
Bind To combine signatures or pages of a book. There are various methods of binding depending on the requirements of the book.
Bind Margin The inside margin of a book which ends where the printed information begins.
Binder A conglomeration of devices used to hold printed material together.
Binder's Board The heavy board used in book covers.
Binder's Die A metal die used for stamping titles and authors in various materials, such as silver and gold.
Bindery Operations After a book or pamphlet has been printed, it must go through bindery functions such as perforating, folding, trimming and eventually binding.
Bindery Punching The function of drilling holes in the printed material.
Binding (1) Joining a group of sheets or signatures into a single unit or book. Binding may be accomplished by means of adhesives, sewing, stitching, mechanical post binder, etc. More specifically, the composite operations that comprise collating,perforating, and folding the elements of a form into the finished fastened or unfastened form set. (2) That portion or edge of a book of forms which is bound. (3) In forms writing equipment,a form feed malfunction caused normally by excessive pressure, especially common with thick and/or firmly glued form sets being pressure fed through a platen press.
Binding Edge The edge of the printed material where the binding will be done.
Binding Margin The unprinted area of the binding edge where binding is to take place.
Bit A bit is a unit of magnetized metal on a magnetic tape or disk that makes up a computer character. Eight bits can create any combination of information that is needed to represent a numerical number, alphabetic character, or specialcharacter.
Bitmap The electronic representation of a image, indicating the position of every possible spot.
Black and White Designates black printing on white as opposed to colors.
Black Box A computer interface box that converts one type of data to another.
Black Letter (Gothic) A modern typeface based on a 15th century handwriting style.
Black Plate Change Changes made to black text and headlines in process printing. The changes are made on the black plate and thus do not affect the color.
Black Printer The black plate made to increase contrast of dark tones and make them neutral in the color process.
Blade Coater A device that applies an excess coating to a paper web, then smooths it with a steel blade.
Blade Cut A heavy scratch in a cutting blade.
Blade Scratch A scratch in the surface of coated paper caused by a malfunction of the blade coater.
Blade Streak A large scratch in the surface of coated paper caused by the malfunction of the blade coater.
Blank A cardboard stock designed for printing.
Blank Stripe The section of stripe coated carbon that is not coated.
Blanket The rubber blanket that is clamped around the cylinder that transfers the image to the paper in offset printing.
Blanket Contamination Debris that attaches itself to the blanket and interferes with print quality.
Blanket Creep Movement in the blanket that is clamped around the cylinder.
Blanket Cylinder The cylinder on which the blanket is mounted.
Blanket Renewal A mailing sent to all memebers requesting membership renewal. All members are sent the same mailing at the same time.
Blanket Smash An area on a blanket that is debossed or compressed due to excessive pressure applied in that area.
Blanket Thickness Gauge A gauge to measure the blanket under pressure.
Blanket to Blanket Press A perfector press whereby the paper runs between two cylinders, each acting as the impression cylinder for the other.
Blanks or Boards Heavyweight paperboard that is produced on cylinder machines. These paperboards have a thickness of more than .012 inch.
Bleaching Chemical treatment to brighten, refine, and balance pulp fiber.
Bleed The spread of ink into unwanted areas.
Bleed Tabs On the edge of printed text, solid ink marks that go to the very edge of the paper (bleeds) that are used as finder tabs for sections in the text.
Bleed Through When printing from one side of the sheet is visible on the other side due to ink problems opposed to show through where the problem results from lack of opacity in the paper. Also referred to as strike through.
Bleeding Ink Bleeding ink prints in black but when exposed to any aqueous solution it will produce a red stain. A wet finger rubbed across the ink will instantly show the affect of the bleeding ink.
Blend A tool or technique used in graphics to create a transitions from one color or tint to another. Another term for gradient.
Blind Embossing A design which is imprinted without metallic leaf or ink, giving a bas-relief effect.
Blind Folio Page numbers are not printed on the page.
Blind Image An image on the plate that will no longer accept ink.
Blister A section of coated paper where the coating blisters because it was dried too fast.
Blister Cut A problem that occurs which stops the web paper from running smoothly through the press.
Block Out Printed solids or dense patterns in specific areas of a form, used to prevent readability of information written or imprinted in that area. Also used to prevent show through of data located in that area on the following parts.
Block Style Typesetting term denoting that all type aligns at the left.
Blow In A printed piece that is inserted in a larger piece. The inserted piece is loose within the larger piece.
Blow Up To enlarge; usually a graphic image or photograph.
Blown On Labels Blown on labels are labels that are removed from a liner and applied to the form by a suction or a blowing process. The labels are usually of a piggyback construction which allows the label to be reusable.
Blue Sensitive Film A sensitive to blue only.
Blueline A photo print of a completed book used as a proof . It is used for checking the accuracy of layout and position before printing plates are made
BMP Windows Bitmap file format built into Windows. It supports 1- to 24-bit depth and index color.
Body In typesetting, the distance from the base of one line of type to the base of the following line. Also, the main portion of the typeset page as opposed to the heading, feet, and margin.
Body Type A type used for the main part or text of a printed piece.
Boldface The dark type of a series. For example, Helvetica medium, Helvetica gold, Helvetica bold Italic.
Bond Paper A strong, durable writing paper, most commonly used for letterheads, stationery, business forms, etc.
Bonding Strength The strength of the paper to resistance of picking or tearing during printing.
Bone A tool used for hand folding and creasing of printed material.
Book Fold Sheets that are folded and arranged so that they open in book form.
Book Paper A basic term used to describe paper used for book printing.
Book Rate A (less expensive) special postal rate for mailing books.
Booklet A small book generally put together with a soft cover and stapled, wire bound, or glued.
Booklet Printing The printing of a document with a different image on the left and right side of a page and on the reverse side, a different set of images on the left and right side. Then a group of different pages are folded and collated into the proper order to form a booklet. The pages are then bound together.
Bookmarks Nearly all Web browsers support this feature which allows you to save or mark a Web site or document for later use.
Border A design or illustration around other printed information.
Border Rules Thick rules around other printed information.
Bottom-Weighted Metering In digital cameras, light is measured by averaging the tonal values around the lower half of the picture setting and adjusting to a middle gray value in order to create the proper exposure.
Box Board Board used in the manufacturing of boxes. This board paper can be made from wood pulp or waste paper, and it can be clay coated, lined or plain.
Bracket Stripper A piece of equipment to make combined endsheets for perfect casebinding.
Brayer A small roller for inking type by hand usually for the making of a proof.
Break The split in a word when hyphenation is used.
Break for Color To show the separations required to achieve the end result of the printed piece in different colors.
Bridge A router that makes a connection between two or more networks and forwards packets among them.
Brightness The reflectance of a paper at a standard wave length. Brightness describes differences in the amount of light reflected from or transmitted through an image regardless of it's hue. It is the light reflectance or brilliance of the paper at a specific wave length. The higher brightness rating of the paper generally denotes the higher quality.
Bristol Board An economical, heavyweight, all-around printing paper.
Bristols A strong heavy weight paper that is stiff and bulky. The stocks may be referred to as index, card stock and vellum with a caliper thickness of .006 or more.
Brittleness A characteristic of paper indicating the resistance to tearing or breaking of fibers when it is folded.
Broadside Page When text runs sideways on a page.
Brochure A leaflet bound in booklet form as descriptive material.
Broken Carton A carton containing a quantity of paper that is less than what a full carton would be.
Broken Ream A ream of paper (500 sheets) containing a quantity that is less than a full ream.
Broker A person or company that sells printing that is produced by another company.
Bronzing The use of bronze powder in printing to produce a metallic look.
Buckram A stiff cotton fabric for interlinings and bookbindings.
Buffer An area in computer storage used for saving information prior to its being released to a busy printer, busy disk, etc.
Bug An error in a computer program that won't allow the desired processing of data.
Build-up When dust or lint accumulate over a period of time which interferes with various functions of a printing press.
Bulk Sheet thickness, in pages per inch.
Bulk Mail A term that generally refers to large quantities of First Class or advertising mail that are given reduced rates of postage. The rates are usually discounted from the single-piece mail rates because the mailer is required to prepare the bulk mail to meet certain criteria, such as sorting the bulk mailings according to ZIP code. This saves time for the Postal Service and the cost savings are passed on to the mailer.
Bulk Mail Center (BMC) A mail processing plant that distributes Standard Mail that in bulk form and by piece.
Bulking Dummy A mock-up of blank paper using the exact same number of papers that will be in the printed edition of the book, that establishes the size of the book which is necessary for preparing art work for the spine, size of the dust cover,etc.
Bulking Stick A caliper rule used for determining the bulk of a book or text.
Bulking Thickness The size of the book as determined by the bulking dummy.
Bullets Solid dots used in printing, generally to highlight information.
Bump Exposure An exposure in halftone photography with contrast screens, in which the screen is removed for a short time to increase the highlight contrast.
Bump Plate An additional printing plate that adds a matched color to a process color image. (Also known as Touch Plate.)
Bumper End Mailer A corrugated mailing carton with a cushioned end to add protection to the contents.
Bundle A group of folded signatures tied together.
Burin A engravers tool used for removing imperfections of engravings.
Burn The exposure made by an arc light in platemaking.
Burn Twice To expose the image to the plate twice.
Burnish To polish a surface by friction. In engraving, to flatten and enlarge the dots of a halftone by rubbing with a tool.
Burnthrough When enough light penetrates through the masking sheet and exposes the film or plate beneath it. The masking sheet should prevent this but accumulated exposes can cause burnthrough.
Burr A protruding ragged edge caused by cutting with a dull blade.
Burst Binding A method of binding that removes a portion of stock on the spine edge so that glue can penetrate to all of the pages.
Burst Mode The digital camera can be set into a mode of rapid shooting or exposures of images. The speed for taking each shot will vary according to the resolution of the image. "Rapidfire" or the continuous shooting of images is referred to as the "burst rate." Burst rates may be expressed as: 3 images in 1 sec intervals at 1792 x 1200 or 12 images in .5 sec intervals at 896 x 600.
Burster A machine that separates continuous forms and removed hole guide lines at the same time.
Bursting The process in which the individual continuous forms are separated from each other.
Bursting Strength The degree to which paper can withstand pressure without rupturing.
Business Form Continuous form with repetitive information printed in specific positions.
Business Reply Cards (BRC) Business Reply Card - Printed cards that meet all the postal requirements, size and printed information, for that type of mail. This card is returned, to the sender, by the recipient, at no postage cost. The sender pays the postage on the returned cards.
Business Reply Mail (BRM) Reply mail pieces that meet all postal requirements for Business Reply Mail. The recipient can send the reply mail back to the sender without applying postage. Postage is paid by the sender when the mail piece is returned.
Business Return Envelope (BRE) A postage paid return envelope which is supplied to a customer so that forms or information can be mailed back to the company.
Butt Placing two pieces of material against each other without overlapping.
Butt Cut Labels Labels that have no gap between them. Generally the facestock of the butt-cut labels run to the edge of the liner, eliminating the edge trim also.
Butt Register When inks colors meet each other without overlapping or having any space inbetween. Also referred to as butt fit and kiss register.
Butt Roll A web of paper that has so much paper removed that its no good for further use. Butt rolls are recycled into the paper making process.
Byte Two sets of 8 bits of data processing information.