lithography
n. uncountablen. a method of printing or drawing that uses a flat stone or metal plate. It works because oil and water do not mix, so the ink sticks only to the parts you draw on.
n. a printing process based on the principle that oil and water do not mix. It involves drawing an image on a flat surface, such as a stone or metal plate, and then using ink to transfer the image to paper.
The artist used lithography to create a series of posters.
Before the invention of digital printing, lithography was the primary method for producing high-quality color magazines and newspapers.
The transition from traditional stone lithography to modern photolithography allowed for the mass production of complex circuit boards, fundamentally altering the landscape of the semiconductor industry.
From German Lithographie, from λίθος (líthos, “stone”) + γράφειν (gráphein, “to write”). Originally the printing surface was a flat piece of limestone that was treated with grease to form a surface that would selectively transfer ink to the paper; the stone has now been replaced, in general, with a metal plate. By surface analysis, litho- + -graphy.