Copperplate

Origin

copper+plate, also spelled copper-plate or copper plate.

For the plate used for engraving itself in the 1660s.

As a term for the printed product from 1817.

Of the especially clear writing used in such prints from the 1820s.

Use as a verb (the past participle copperplated) is from 1822.

Full definition of copperplate

Noun

1. A copper plate, either etched or engraved, to make a recessed pattern.
2. A print made from such a plate.
3. A style of handwriting based on that used on such prints; English round hand.
• 1999. Stardust, Neil Gaiman, page 36 (2001 Perennial paperback edition).The village school was a fine school....He learned his reading and had a fair copperplate hand.

Verb

1. To engrave on and print from a copperplate