photostat

[ foh-tuh-stat ]

noun

1. a camera for making facsimile copies of documents, drawings, etc., in the form of paper negatives on which the positions of lines, objects, etc., in the originals are maintained.
2. a copy made with this camera.

verb (used with or without object)

, pho·to·stat·ed or pho·to·stat·ted, pho·to·stat·ing or pho·to·stat·ting.

1. to copy with this camera.

photostat

/ ˈfəʊtəʊˌstæt /

noun

1. a machine or process used to make quick positive or negative photographic copies of written, printed, or graphic matter
2. any copy made by such a machine

verb

1. to make a photostat copy (of)

Derived Forms

• ˌphotoˈstatic, adjective

Other Words From

• photo·stater photo·statter noun
• photo·static adjective
• photo·stati·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of photostat¹

Formerly a trademark

Example Sentences

The papers were copied by a photostat machine, which took pictures of them on photographic paper, which, in a photographic darkroom, was immersed, one page at a time, in a fluid called developer.

From The New Yorker

Signed: “Harry S Truman, a photostat copy, signed 11/27/65.”

From Fox News

Disney relaxed his pressure on his animators to advance the medium, allowing, essentially, as noted in Neal Gabler’s biography “Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination,” photostats of sketches rather than full layouts.

From Los Angeles Times

Born in 1928, Warhol prefigured the digital age by shaping a personal brand and using technology such as photostat machines, cameras and tape recorders to experiment and create.

From Wall Street Journal

Tennessee’s Public Records Act allows for “reasonable rules” on handling requests but also guarantees residents the right to “take extracts or make copies thereof, and to make photographs or photostats” of the records inspected.

From Seattle Times

Related Words

• clone
• copy
• duplicate
• emulate
• imitate
• mirror
• photocopy
• portray
• print
• recreate
• reflect
• repeat
• replicate
• reprint