What does mimeographing mean?
Mimeographing is the practice of producing copies of a document with a mimeograph, a stencil-based duplicating machine. A prepared master or stencil was placed in the machine, and ink was forced through it onto successive sheets of paper, allowing large numbers of identical copies to be made relatively quickly. Before photocopiers became widely affordable, mimeographing was especially useful for school worksheets, newsletters, notices, and administrative forms. Its name reflects the machine’s association with imitation or copying, while the process is also called mimeography. Today, “mimeographing” is mainly historical, appearing in descriptions of older educational and office practices, although the term can still be used descriptively when discussing a surviving machine or an unusual continuation of the traditional technique. In contemporary use, “copying,” “duplicating,” and “printing” are generally more natural.
To reproduce a document or text by using a mimeograph or a comparable stencil-based duplicating machine.
"They mimeographed hundreds of leaflets for the event."
Chiefly historical in modern English; use “photocopy” or “print” for contemporary processes unless the historical method is specifically intended.
The process of making copies with a mimeograph.
"The office continued mimeographing until its old duplicating machine was finally discarded."
A gerund noun; in a sentence it may take a determiner, as in “the mimeographing of leaflets.”
Before photocopiers became common, a single stencil could turn a typed classroom worksheet into dozens of identical copies with remarkable speed.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does mimeographing come from?
The underlying noun “mimeograph” was coined by Thomas Edison for his stencil duplicating machine in the late nineteenth century. Its name combines a form associated with imitation with the combining element meaning “writing” or “a writing device.” The present participle “mimeographing” was formed by adding the usual verb suffix “-ing” to “mimeograph,” and it names the activity of using that machine. The related process noun “mimeography” follows the same pattern.
Related word forms
How mimeographing is actually used
This is now a largely historical term, though it remains understandable in accounts of schools, offices, and organizations from the period when stencil duplicating was common. The gerund can also function as a noun for the process itself.
Easily confused with mimeographing
A mimeograph is the machine or stencil duplicating device, while mimeographing is the act of using one to make copies.
Mimeography is the method or process, whereas mimeographing refers more specifically to the act of producing copies with the machine.