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Glite Dictionary
four-line brevier

four-line brevier

9.9
A large size of printed letters of about 32 points used for headings and title pages
  • noun
  • Archaic
translation icon : brevier de cuatro líneas
  • The book was printed in four-line brevier type.

Examples

  • The printer found that four-line brevier was too large for the pamphlet’s compact layout.

  • This edition used a consistent four-line brevier typeface throughout the title pages.

  • Headings were set in bold four-line brevier to attract the reader’s attention.

  • Many newspapers use four-line brevier for their headlines.

  • The designer selected a clear four-line brevier for the printed invitation to ensure readability.

  • When producing the catalog, the typesetter used four-line brevier for the descriptions.

  • The article's main points were highlighted in four-line brevier to enhance visibility.

Surface Forms

four-line brevier singular
four-line breviers plural

Morphology

four-line + brevier

This is a specialised, archaic typographic term: 'brevier' names a particular type size and 'four-line' is a technical modifier, neither of which conveys the meaning '32 points' to a B1 learner even if they know the literal words. The overall meaning is domain-specific and not compositionally predictable from 'four' + 'line' + 'brevier', so the expression would be opaque to typical learners.

Etymology

Four-line brevier comes from old print shops, where brevier was the name for a type size and four-line showed the letters were about four lines tall. Printers used this fairly large size for headings and display text, so today the name means 'a particular size of printing type'.