type Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a subdivision of a particular kind of thing
    • what type of sculpture do you prefer?
  2. noun a person of a specified kind (usually with many eccentricities)
    case; eccentric; character.
    • a real character
    • a strange character
    • a friendly eccentric
    • the capable type
    • a mental case
  3. noun (biology) the taxonomic group whose characteristics are used to define the next higher taxon
  4. noun printed characters
    • small type is hard to read
  5. noun all of the tokens of the same symbol
    • the word `element' contains five different types of character
  6. noun a small metal block bearing a raised character on one end; produces a printed character when inked and pressed on paper
    • he dropped a case of type, so they made him pick them up
  7. verb write by means of a keyboard with types
    typewrite.
    • type the acceptance letter, please
  8. verb identify as belonging to a certain type
    typecast.
    • Such people can practically be typed

WordNet

Type noun
Etymology
F. type; cf. It. tipo, from L. typus a figure, image, a form, type, character, Gr. the mark of a blow, impression, form of character, model, from the root of to beat, strike; cf. Skr. tup to hurt.
Definitions
  1. The mark or impression of something; stamp; impressed sign; emblem.
    The faith they have in tennis, and tall stockings, Short blistered breeches, and those types of travel. Shak.
  2. Form or character impressed; style; semblance.
    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 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. Darwin.
Type transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Typed ; present participle & verbal noun Typing
Definitions
  1. To represent by a type, model, or symbol beforehand; to prefigure. R. White (Johnson).
  2. To furnish an expression or copy of; to represent; to typify. R.
    Let us type them now in our own lives. Tennyson.

Webster 1913