The Wells & Drew Printing Dictionary – M
M
m:
- symbol in the paper industry designating 1,000. Usually used to designate 1,000 sheets or two reams of fine paper.
- m weight:
- the weight of one thousand sheets of a grade in its basic size.
- m.o:
- abbreviation for making-order.
- machine glazed:
- (MG)Paper holding a high-gloss finish only on one side.
- machine coated:
- coating applied while the paper is still on the paper machine.
- machine direction:
- establishes the grain direction which is always parallel with the travel of the paper over the wire.
- macro:
- a series of instructions which would normally be issued one at a time on the keyboard to control a program. A macro facility allows them to be stored and issued automatically by a single keystroke.
- magnetic ink:
- a magnetized ink that can be read both by humans and by electronic machines. Used in cheque printing.
- magenta:
- one of the four process colors.
- magenta screen:
- a dyed contact screen. Generally only used in black and white reproduction of halftones and not used in color, except in indirect separations.
- makeready:
- all activities required to prepare a press or other machine to function for a specific printing or bindery job, as compared to production run. Also known as setup. Can also be paper used in the makeready process at any stage in production.
- making order:
- order for paper that a mill makes to the customer’s specifications, as compared to a mill order or stock order.
- male die:
- die that applies pressure during embossing or debossing. Also called force card.
- make-up:
- assembling type and plates into complete pages.
- making order:
- quantity of paper specially ordered form a mill by the customer. Paper must be custom made to meet the buyer’s specifications. A minimum order established by the mill is required on making orders.
- manuscript:
- (ms) an author’s original form of work (hand written, typed or on disk) submitted for publication.
- margin:
- imprinted space around the edge of the printed material.
- manilla:
- a tough cream/brown paper used to produce stationery and wrapping paper.
- mark-up:
- instructions written usually on a “dummy.”
- masking:
- in color separation photography, controlling or modulating color contrast and detail overt he total area of each separation negative used for printed color reproduction. Contrast is heightened when the quality is lacking in the transparency.
- master:
- paper or plastic plate used on a duplicating press.
- masthead:
- details of publisher and editorial staff usually printed on the contents page.
- match print:
- a form of a four-color-process proofing system.
- matte finish:
- matte coated papers have little or no gloss, and range from 0 to 20 on the gloss scale. They have been prime coated with a thicker weight than applied to regular dull coated papers, but the coat weight per basis weight is less.
- mcintyre corners:
- predominantly found in booklet style envelopes. These notches are made at the top of the two side seams shoulders to facilitate automatic insertion.
- measure:
- denotes the width of a setting expressed in pica ems.
- mechanical bind:
- to bind using a comb, coil, ring binder, post or any other technique not requiring gluing, sewing or stitching.
- mechanical tint:
- a pre-printed sheet of dots, lines or patterns that can be laid down on artwork for reproduction.
- megabyte:
- (mb) one million bytes. Usually describes either a quantity of digital data (documents) or of storage (such as memory or a hard drive). It is commonly abbreviated as Mbyte or MB.
- mechanical ghosting:
- 1) Can occur when ink form rollers cannot supply enough ink coverage on the form. To correct, use oscillating form rollers. 2) Can occur when there is too much water run on the plate. To correct, reduce the amount of water by adding alcohol or alcohol substitutes to fountain solution.
- mechanical separation:
- color breaks made on the mechanical using a separate overlay for each color to be printed.
- mechanical tint:
- lines or patterns formed with dots creating artwork for reproduction.
- metallic ink:
- ink containing powdered metal or pigments that simulate metal.
- metallic paper:
- paper coated with a thin film of plastic or pigment whose color and gloss simulate metal.
- metameric pairs:
- two colors that are different yet look the same when viewed under a particular light source. In technical terms, the colors have the same set of color coordinates but different spectral reflectance curves.
- metamerism:
- the tendency for color to shift in hue as it is viewed under different lighting conditions.
- midtones:
- in a photograph or illustration, tones created by dots between 30 percent and 70 percent of coverage, as compared to highlights and shadows.
- mil 1/1000 Inch:
- the thickness of plastic films as printing substrates are expressed in mils.
- mill boards:
- heavyweight boards, hard, flat, and nonwarping, used in book binding and box making. Made from fiber refuse, wastepaper, screenings and mechanical wood pulp. Manufactured on a wet machine a nd calendered by passing the web through the board calenders.
- mill brand:
- rather than the merchant house. The latter is known as a “private brand”.
- mill bristol:
- printing bristols usually made on a cylinder machine. Basic size: 22 1/2″ x 28 1/2″. Basis weight: 90 to 200 lbs/ream.
- minimum density:
- the measurement of the whitest, or lightest area of an image on film.
- misting:
- also referred to as flying ink. phenomenon of droplets of ink being thrown off the roller train.
- mock up:
- a reproduction of the original printed matter and possibly containing instructions or direction.
- modem:
- mostly used over phone lines, a device that converts electronic stored information from point a. to point b.
- moire:
- undesirable pattern resulting when halftones and screen tints are made with improperly aligned screens, or when a pattern in a photo, such as a plaid, interfaces with a halftone dot pattern.
- moisture content:
- refers to the amount of moisture found in a sheet of paper. Average amount ranges from 5 to 8%. This figure varies from sheet to sheet since paper will emit or absorb moisture according to the condition of the surrounding atmosphere.
- monospace:
- a font in which all characters occupy the same amount of horizontal width regardless of the character.
- montage:
- a single image formed from the assembling of several images.
- mounting board:
- a heavy board used for mounting artwork.
- mottle:
- in printing,an uneven ink absorption caused by inks not trapping properly.
- mottled finish:
- finish which exhibits high and low spots or glossy and dull areas on the printed sheet.
- mounting board:
- a laminating board, finished with good quality paper on one or both surfaces. Used for mounting photographs and prints.
- monarch size:
- paper size (7′ x 10′) and envelope shape often used for personal stationery.
- monospaced:
- a type font where all characters have the same width.
- mull:
- a specific type of glue used for books binding and personal pads needing strength.
- Multiples:
- placing more than 1 image of the same product onto a single form.
- multicolor printing:
- printing in more than one ink color (but not four-color process). Also called polychrome printing.
- m weight:
- weight of 1,000 sheets of paper in any specific size. Also see “M”
- mylar:
- In image assembly; a polyester based film specifically suited for stripping film upon because of its mechanical strength and dimensional stability.