The Collaborative International Dictionary
Electrotype \E*lec"tro*type\, n. [Electro- + -type.] A facsimile plate made by electrotypy for use in printing; also, an impression or print from such plate. Also used adjectively.
Note: The face of an electrotype consists of a shell of copper, silver, or the like, produced by the action of an electrical current upon a plate of metal and a wax mold suspended in an acid bath and connected with opposite poles of the battery. It is backed up with a solid filling of type metal.
Electrotype \E*lec"tro*type\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Electrotyped; p. pr. & vb. n. Electrotyping.] To make facsimile plates of by the electrotype process; as, to electrotype a page of type, a book, etc. See Electrotype, n.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. a plate, made by electroplating a mold, such as used in letterpress printing vb. to make such a plate
Usage examples of "electrotype".
Already, the events of 1861-65, and the seasons that immediately preceded, as well as those that closely follow’d them, have lost their direct personal impression, and the living heat and excitement of their own time, and are being marshall’d for casting, or getting ready to be cast, into the cold and bloodless electrotype plates of History.
It was as like a peeled walnut with bits unevenly broken off here and there, and then electrotyped all over, as ever I saw anything in my life.