half-tone block
Preserved but no longer current.
A typographic printing- block for illustrations, produced by photo- graphing on to a prepared plate through a screen or grating which breaks up the picture of the object to be reproduced into small dots of varying intensity, thus giving the lights and shades, or tones.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “half-tone block” mean?
A typographic printing- block for illustrations, produced by photo- graphing on to a prepared plate through a screen or grating which breaks up the picture of the object to be reproduced into small dots of varying intensity, thus giving the lights and shades, or tones.
Is “half-tone block” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.