LETTERING

inscription, lettering

(noun) letters inscribed (especially words engraved or carved) on something

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Verb

lettering

present participle of letter

Noun

lettering (countable and uncountable, plural letterings)

Written, especially printed, text.

Anagrams

• re-letting, reletting

Source: Wiktionary

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Let"ter*ing, n.

1. The act or business of making, or marking with, letters, as by cutting or painting.

2. The letters made; as, the lettering of a sign.

LETTER

Let"ter, n. Etym: [From Let to permit.]

Definition: One who lets or permits; one who lets anything for hire.

Let"ter, n. Etym: [From Let to hinder.]

Definition: One who retards or hinders. [Archaic.]

Let"ter, n. Etym: [OE. lettre, F. lettre, OF. letre, fr. L.littera, litera, a letter; pl., an epistle, a writing, literature, fr. linere, litum, to besmear, to spread or rub over; because one of the earliest modes of writing was by graving the characters upon tablets smeared over or covered with wax. Pliny, xiii. 11. See Leniment, and cf. Literal.]

1. A mark or character used as the representative of a sound, or of an articulation of the human organs of speech; a first element of written language. And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew. Luke xxiii. 38.

2. A written or printed communication; a message expressed in intelligible characters on something adapted to conveyance, as paper, parchment, etc.; an epistle. The style of letters ought to be free, easy, and natural. Walsh.

3. A writing; an inscription. [Obs.] None could expound what this letter meant. Chaucer.

4. Verbal expression; literal statement or meaning; exact signification or requirement. We must observe the letter of the law, without doing violence to the reason of the law and the intention of the lawgiver. Jer. Taylor. I broke the letter of it to keep the sense. Tennyson.

5. (Print.)

Definition: A single type; type, collectively; a style of type. Under these buildings . . . was the king's printing house, and that famous letter so much esteemed. Evelyn.

6. pl.

Definition: Learning; erudition; as, a man of letters.

7. pl.

Definition: A letter; an epistle. [Obs.] Chaucer. Dead letter, Drop letter, etc. See under Dead, Drop, etc.

– Letter book, a book in which copies of letters are kept.

– Letter box, a box for the reception of letters to be mailed or delivered.

– Letter carrier, a person who carries letters; a postman; specif., an officer of the post office who carries letters to the persons to whom they are addressed, and collects letters to be mailed.

– Letter cutter, one who engraves letters or letter punches.

– Letter lock, a lock that can not be opened when fastened, unless certain movable lettered rings or disks forming a part of in are in such a position (indicated by a particular combination of the letters) as to permit the bolt to be withdrawn. A strange lock that opens with AMEN. Beau. & Fl.

– Letter paper, paper for writing letters on; especially, a size of paper intermediate between note paper and foolscap. See Paper.

– Letter punch, a steel punch with a letter engraved on the end, used in making the matrices for type.

– Letters of administration (Law), the instrument by which an administrator or administratrix is authorized to administer the goods and estate of a deceased person.

– Letter of attorney, Letter of credit, etc. See under Attorney, Credit, etc.

– Letter of license, a paper by which creditors extend a debtor's time for paying his debts.

– Letters close or clause (Eng. Law.), letters or writs directed to particular persons for particular purposes, and hence closed or sealed on the outside; -- distinguished from letters patent. Burrill.

– Letters of orders (Eccl.), a document duly signed and sealed, by which a bishop makes it known that he has regularly ordained a certain person as priest, deacon, etc.

– Letters patent, overt, or open (Eng. Law), a writing executed and sealed, by which power and authority are granted to a person to do some act, or enjoy some right; as, letters patent under the seal of England.

– Letter-sheet envelope, a stamped sheet of letter paper issued by the government, prepared to be folded and sealed for transmission by mail without an envelope.

– Letters testamentary (Law), an instrument granted by the proper officer to an executor after probate of a will, authorizing him to act as executor.

– Letter writer. (a) One who writes letters. (b) A machine for copying letters. (c) A book giving directions and forms for the writing of letters.

Let"ter, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Lettered; p. pr. & vb. n. Lettering.]

Definition: To impress with letters; to mark with letters or words; as, a book gilt and lettered.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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