drum printer
- noun
- /drʌm ˈprɪntər/
- Archaic
:
impresora de tambor
- Early computer centers often used a drum printer to produce large volumes of reports.
Examples
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The drum printer allowed the operators to print entire lines of text at once, significantly speeding up the printing process.
-
The drum printer was known for its speed but also for being very noisy during operation.
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Technicians had to replace the drum printer when it became obsolete in the 1980s.
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The drum printer produced high-quality prints quickly.
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Many offices still use a drum printer for bulk printing.
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In large organizations, a drum printer is often used to print multiple copies of documents rapidly.
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Before modern inkjet printers became popular, many businesses relied on a drum printer for efficient line printing.
Synonyms
80
1.0
A machine that makes text or pictures on paper from a computer
1
2.8
A machine that puts words and pictures onto paper
1
4.4
A fast machine that prints whole lines of text at once
A machine used with computers that puts a whole line of text on paper at once
How Fast
- Archaic
1
4.4
- Archaic
6
3.4
- Archaic
- Archaic
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a transparent compound: the meaning is a printer that incorporates or uses a drum. A B1 learner who knows 'drum' (a cylindrical component) and 'printer' (a device that prints) can infer it denotes a type of printer with a rotating/cylindrical printing drum, so the sense is compositionally derivable.
Etymology
Drum printer comes from the way the machine worked: letters and numbers were fixed to a turning drum, so the printer could print whole lines quickly by hitting the paper as the drum spun. That's why the name describes a machine for fast, often noisy, 'line' printing.