Lĭ-thŏt'y-py, n.

[Gr. λίθος, stone, and τύπος, type.] The act or process of making a peculiar kind of stereotype plates, by pressing into a mold taken from a page which has been set up a composition of gum-shellac and sand of a fine quality, together with a little tar and linseed oil, all in a heated state. A plate is thus formed, which, though soft at first, becomes, when thrown into cold water, as hard as stone, and having from the sand which it contains a stony texture;—hence the name.