font

plural fonts

1. ChristianityA receptacle in a church for holy water, especially one used in baptism.

   She dipped her fingers in the font and crossed herself.

   2 more examples

   Blessed be God, that, at the font, /⁠ My sponsors bound me to the call / Of Christ in England to confront / The world, the flesh, the fiend and all.

   1791, Christopher Smart, “Moderation”, in Hymns for the Amusement of Children

   In the Apostolic Age, as in Jewish times (John, iii, 23), baptism was administered without special fonts, at the seaside or in streams or pools of water (Acts, viii, 38); […]

   1913, John Bertram Peterson, “Baptismal Font”, in Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2

   Synonyms: stoup

2. A receptacle for lamp oil in a lamp.

plural fonts · alternative archaic fount

1. A set of glyphs of unified design, belonging to one typeface (e.g., Helvetica), style (e.g., italic), and weight (e.g., bold). Usually representing the letters of an alphabet and its supplementary characters.
   1. mediaIn metal typesetting, a set of type sorts in one size.
   2. mediaIn phototypesetting, a set of patterns forming glyphs of any size, or the film they are stored on.
   3. mediaIn digital typesetting, a set of glyphs in a single style, representing one or more alphabets or writing systems, or the computer code representing it.
2. informalmediaA typeface.
3. metonymicallycomputingA computer file containing the code used to draw and compose the glyphs of one or more typographic fonts on a computer display or printer.

   They bought a license for the Gulliver font and installed that font on several machines.

4. informalThe design of any text.

   I like the font of this logo.

   Synonyms: lettering

present singular third person fonts · participle present fonting · participle past fonted · past fonted · alternative archaic fount

1. informaltransitivebroadcastingTo overlay (text) on the picture.

   When figures or quotes are thought helpful to understanding a spot, they're "fonted" over the cover picture.

   1981, William Safire, On language, page 78

   1 more example

   […] character generator instead of an easel card to create letters on camera or telephone numbers that can run across the TV screen. The process is called fonting.

   1987, The Foundation Center, Promoting issues & ideas: a guide to public relations for nonprofit organizations, page 97

plural fonts

1. figurativelyA source, wellspring, fount.

   1824 — George Gordon, Lord Byron, Don Juan, canto V A gaudy taste; for they are little skill'd in The arts of which these lands were once the font

   3 more examples

   As I am not drawing here on the font of imagination to refresh that of fact and experience, I do not suggest that the Tarot set the example of expressing Secret Doctrine in pictures and that it was followed by Hermetic writers; but it is noticeable that it is perhaps the earliest example of this art.

   1910, Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, part II

   I am interested to fix your attention on this prospect now because unless you take it within your view and permit the full significance of it to command your thought I cannot find the right light in which to set forth the particular matter that lies at the very font of my whole thought as I address you to-day.

   1915, Woodrow Wilson, Third State of the Union Address

   The Bible lays special stress on the fear of God as the font of wisdom.

   1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress

1. informal# Clipping of Fontainebleau: a town near Paris, in Seine-et-Marne department, Île-de-France, France.

plural Fonts

1. A surname