1. The art or process of making a kind of hard, stereotype plate, by pressing into a mold, taken from a page of type or other matter, a composition of gum shellac and sand of a fine quality, together with a little tar and linseed oil, all in a heated state.
2. A printing process in which types are impressed in a soft matrix, the resulting hollow spaces being filled with a heated mixture that later solidifies and can be used for printing.