stencil

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A sheet, as of plastic or cardboard, in which a desired lettering or design has been cut so that ink or paint applied to the sheet will reproduce the pattern on the surface beneath.
2. n. The lettering or design produced with such a sheet.
3. n. The process of printing with such a sheet.
4. v. To mark with a stencil.
5. v. To produce by stencil.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To mark out or paint by means of a stencil.
2. n. A thin plate or sheet of any substance in which a figure, letter, or pattern is formed by cutting through the plate. If the plate thus cut is placed upon a surface and rubbed with color or ink, the pattern or figure will be marked on the underlying substance. For many purposes, the letters, etc., are cut through completely; for transferring a pattern, as in embroidery, the lines of the pattern are often indicated by small holes. In wall-decoration, etc., both these plans are employed. Different stencils are often used in the same design, each for a different color.
3. n. The coloring matter used in marking with a stencil-plate.
4. n. In ceramics, a preparation laid upon the biscuit to keep the oil used in transfer-printing or enameling from adhering to the surface; hence, the pattern traced by this preparation, reserving a panel or medallion of the unaltered color of the biscuit.
5. n. A door-post; a stanchion.

Wiktionary

1. n. A utensil that contains a perforated sheet through which ink can be forced to create a printed pattern onto a surface.
2. n. A typeface looking as if made by the utensil.W
3. v. transitive, intransitive To print with a stencil.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A thin plate of metal, leather, or other material, used in painting, marking, etc. The pattern is cut out of the plate, which is then laid flat on the surface to be marked, and the color brushed over it. Called also stencil plate.
2. v. To mark, paint, or color in figures with stencils; to form or print by means of a stencil.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. mark or print with a stencil
2. n. a sheet of material (metal, plastic, cardboard, waxed paper, silk, etc.) that has been perforated with a pattern (printing or a design); ink or paint can pass through the perforations to create the printed pattern on the surface below