American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth
Edition - n. A technique of intaglio engraving in which a hard
steel needle is used to incise lines in a metal, usually copper
plate, with the rough burr at the sides of the incised lines
often retained to produce a velvety black tone in the print. -
n. An engraving or print made using this technique. Century
Dictionary and Cyclopedia - n. A steel instrument or etching-
needle with a sharp point, used by etchers to cut delicate lines
on copperplates from which the etching-ground has been removed.
The bur raised by the cutting of the metal is either left
standing on one side of the furrow to catch the printing-ink and
produce a mezzotint effect of more or less deep tone, or removed
with the burnisher so that the line may yield a clean
impression. - n. The process of engraving with the dry-point. -
In engraving, an epithet applied to a line made with the dry-
point, or to an engraving produced by means of that instrument.
- n. an acid-free etching crea