daisywheel printer
- noun
- /ˈdeɪziˌwiːl ˈprɪntər/
- Archaic
- The office used a daisywheel printer to produce documents with high-quality text.
Examples
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Replacing the ink ribbon on a daisywheel printer was a common maintenance task.
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In the 1980s, many writers relied on a daisywheel printer for their manuscripts.
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The daisywheel printer produced high-quality text.
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I bought a new daisywheel printer last week.
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In the 1980s, many writers relied on a daisywheel printer for their manuscripts.
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Replacing the ink ribbon on a daisywheel printer was a common maintenance task.
-
The office used a daisywheel printer to produce documents with high-quality text.
Synonyms
A machine that makes text or pictures on paper from a computer
A machine that prints letters one at a time
Surface Forms
Morphology
daisywheel + printer
The compound 'daisywheel' is transparently analyzable as 'daisy' (a flower) + 'wheel', so a B1 learner who knows those words can infer a wheel with petal-like projections. Paired with 'printer', this immediately yields the idea of a printer that uses such a wheel to produce characters, making the overall meaning compositionally clear even if the detailed mechanism remains technical.
Etymology
The noun daisywheel printer comes from the machine's round daisy-shaped wheel with many petal-like arms, and each arm holds a letter that is hit against an ink ribbon to make a mark on the paper. That's why the name fits a machine that 'prints' clear letters.