Thy father bears the type of king of Naples.
Shak.
3. A figure or representation of something to come; a token; a sign; a
symbol; — correlative to antitype.
A type is no longer a type when the thing typified comes to be actually
exhibited.
South.
4. That which possesses or exemplifies characteristic qualities; the
representative. Specifically: (a) (Biol.) A general form or structure
common to a number of individuals; hence, the ideal representation of a
species, genus, or other group, combining the essential
characteristics; an animal or plant possessing or exemplifying the
essential characteristics of a species, genus, or other group. Also, a
group or division of animals having a certain typical or characteristic
structure of body maintained within the group.
Since the time of Cuvier and Baer . . . the whole animal kingdom has
been universally held to be divisible into a small number of main
divisions or types.
Haeckel.
(b) (Fine Arts) The original object, or class of objects, scene, face,
or conception, which becomes the subject of a copy; esp., the design on
the face of a medal or a coin.
(c) (Chem.) A simple compound, used as a mode or pattern to which other
compounds are conveniently regarded as being related, and from which
they may be actually or theoretically derived.
The fundamental types used to express the simplest and most essential
chemical relations are hydrochloric acid, HCl; water, H2O; ammonia,
NH3; and methane, CH4.
5. (Typog.) (a) A raised letter, figure, accent, or other character,
cast in metal or cut in wood, used in printing. (b) Such letters or
characters, in general, or the whole quantity of them used in printing,
spoken of collectively; any number or mass of such letters or
characters, however disposed.
Type are mostly made by casting type metal in a mold, though some of
the larger sizes are made from maple, mahogany, or boxwood. In the cut,
a is the body; b, the face, or part from which the impression is taken;
c, the shoulder, or top of the body; d, the nick (sometimes two or more
are made), designed to assist the compositor in distinguishing the
bottom of the face from the top; e, the groove made in the process of
finishing, — each type as cast having attached to the bottom of the
body a jet, or small piece of metal (formed by the surplus metal poured
into the mold), which, when broken off, leaves a roughness that
requires to be removed. The fine lines at the top and bottom of a
letter are technically called ceriphs, and when part of the face
projects over the body, as in the letter f, the projection is called a
kern.
The type which compose an ordinary book font consist of Roman CAPITALS,
small capitals, and lower-case letters, and Italic CAPITALS and
lower-case letters, with accompanying figures, points, and reference
marks, — in all about two hundred characters. Including the various
modern styles of fancy type, some three or four hundred varieties of
face are made. Besides the ordinary Roman and Italic, some of the most
important of the varieties are —
The smallest body in common use is diamond; then follow in order of
size, pearl, agate, nonpareil, minion, brevier, bourgeois (or two-line
diamond), long primer (or two-line pearl), small pica (or two-line
agate), pica (or two-line nonpareil), English (or two-line minion),
Columbian (or two-line brevier), great primer (two-line bourgeois),
paragon (or two-line long primer), double small pica (or two-line small
pica), double pica (or two-line pica), double English (or two-line
English), double great primer (or two-line great primer), double
paragon (or two-line paragon), canon (or two-line double pica). Above
this, the sizes are called five-line pica, six-line pica, seven-line
pica, and so on, being made mostly of wood. The following alphabets
show the different sizes up to great primer.
The foregoing account is conformed to the designations made use of by
American type founders, but is substantially correct for England.
Agate, however, is called ruby, in England, where, also, a size
intermediate between nonpareil and minion is employed, called emerald.
Point system of type bodies (Type Founding), a system adopted by the
type founders of the United States by which the various sizes of type
have been so modified and changed that each size bears an exact
proportional relation to every other size. The system is a modification
of a French system, and is based on the pica body. This pica body is
divided into twelfths, which are termed "points," and every type body
consist of a given number of these points. Many of the type founders
indicate the new sizes of type by the number of points, and the old
names are gradually being done away with. By the point system type
founders cast type of a uniform size and height, whereas formerly fonts
of pica or other type made by different founders would often vary
slightly so that they could not be used together. There are no type in
actual use corresponding to the smaller theoretical sizes of the point
system. In some cases, as in that of ruby, the term used designates a
different size from that heretofore so called.
Type founder, one who casts or manufacture type. — Type foundry, Type
foundery, a place for the manufacture of type. — Type metal, an alloy
used in making type, stereotype plates, etc., and in backing up
electrotype plates. It consists essentially of lead and antimony, often
with a little tin, nickel, or copper. — Type wheel, a wheel having
raised letters or characters on its periphery, and used in typewriters,
printing telegraphs, etc. — Unity of type (Biol.), that fundamental
agreement in structure which is seen in organic beings of the same
class, and is quite independent of their habits of life. Darwin.
Type (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Typed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Typing.] 1. To
represent by a type, model, or symbol beforehand; to prefigure. [R.]
White (Johnson).