printer's ink
1
3.6
- noun
- /ˈprɪntərz ɪŋk/
- Specialized
:
tinta de impresora
- To create a masterpiece, he carefully mixed various colors of printer's ink for the print run.
Examples
-
The artist used vibrant printer's ink to vividly bring her designs to life on the page.
-
"This will go through the United States Senate so fast that the President might smear the printer's ink on the bill."
Fiction book (1991) -
Bookstores should smell like old leather, good paper, printer's ink, and maybe a little dust.
Fiction book (1999) -
Along with his aunt's printer's ink, he had breathed in her rabid Republicanism and never abandoned the faith.
Academic text (1991) -
After the printing press finished, the scent of printer's ink filled the air in the workshop.
Synonyms
167
1.0
A colored liquid used for writing, printing, or drawing
1
3.0
Thick colored liquid used to print on paper that dries quickly
How Dark
Surface Forms
Morphology
printer's + ink
The meaning 'ink used by printers' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'printer's' (of the printer/printer machine) with 'ink'. Although the MWE denotes a specific formulation (quick-drying, press-use), that is a predictable subtype of 'ink' and follows a common possessive noun + noun pattern familiar to learners across languages.
Etymology
Printer's ink comes from the busy world of printing: it names the thick, fast-drying ink that printers used on large presses. Because this ink had to dry quickly but could still smell or smudge, that's why today printer's ink means 'the special ink used in printing'.