typewriter

[ tahyp-rahy-ter ]

noun

1. a machine for writing mechanically in letters and characters like those produced by printers' types.
2. Printing. a type style that gives the appearance of typewritten copy.
3. Older Use. a typist.

typewriter

/ ˈtaɪpˌraɪtə /

noun

1. a keyboard machine for writing mechanically in characters resembling print. It may be operated entirely by hand ( manual typewriter ) or be powered by electricity ( electric typewriter )
2. printing a style of type resembling typescript

Word History and Origins

Origin of typewriter¹

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70; type + writer

Example Sentences

The lilting melody is interrupted by the clacking of a typewriter, as Dylan hammers out lyrics, smokes a cigarette and chats with manager Albert Grossman.

From Washington Post

My father had this typewriter when he’s 90, and he always had a ribbon.

From Ozy

Arthur Scherbius, Enigma’s inventor, built what looked like a close relative of a typewriter.

From Washington Post

He used a Braille typewriter early in his career but spent decades working with amanuenses, dictating to them pages that he wrote in his head and revised out loud — millions of words in all, spanning 27 books.

From Washington Post

Even before he graduated, he took a job at the commissioners’ office, hired in 1889 as a “stenographer and typewriter.”

From Washington Post

Back when Sam went upstate, job searches required nothing more than a typewriter, some paper, and the classifieds.

From The Daily Beast

The most popular gift in Hollywood this Christmas is a typewriter.

From The Daily Beast

The boxes are not arranged alphabetically, and a printer learns the case as one learns the typewriter keyboard.

From The Daily Beast

Arbor House is paying Leonard $3 million for Freaky Deaky, the one in the typewriter now, and the one after it.

From The Daily Beast

Slightly deeper, a man sits alone at a table with a typewriter—The Lost Correspondent.

From The Daily Beast

I was here a little while ago and nobody answered my knock, though I could hear that typewriter going rat, tat, tat all the time.

From Project Gutenberg

As it was vacation week, she let Jess go right ahead to settle things while she stuck to the typewriter.

From Project Gutenberg

The lieutenants and sergeants flushed; the girl privates jumped their fingers onto typewriter keys.

From Project Gutenberg

She'd had the clatter of my typewriter dinned into her pretty ears all day, and she knew who I was, even if it was dark.

From Project Gutenberg

Isal-ub (sal-úba) ang hapin sa makinilya, Put the cover on the typewriter.

From Project Gutenberg