Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Half-tone?

\Half tone\, or Half-tone \Half"-tone`\, n. 1. (Fine Arts) (a) An intermediate or middle tone in a painting, engraving, photograph, etc.; a middle tint, neither very dark nor very light. (b) A half-tone photo-engraving. 2. (Music) A half step.
\Half"-tone`\, a. Having, consisting of, or pertaining to, half tones; specif. (Photo-engraving), pertaining to or designating plates, processes, or the pictures made by them, in which gradation of tone in the photograph is reproduced by a graduated system of dotted and checkered spots, usually nearly invisible to the unaided eye, produced by the interposition between the camera and the object of a screen. The name alludes to the fact that this process was the first that was practically successful in reproducing the half tones of the photograph.