What does "brayer" mean?

A hand printing tool, in the US often a roller, used to spread a thin even layer of ink. Early brayers, consisting of a vertical cylinder with a single handle, were designed to break up thick inks before spreading.

Brayer

//ˈbɹeɪɚ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A hand printing tool, in the US often a roller, used to spread a thin even layer of ink. Early brayers, consisting of a vertical cylinder with a single handle, were designed to break up thick inks before spreading.
2
One who brays, or makes the sound of a donkey.
"Sound forth my Brayers, and the welkin rend"

Example

More examples

"Sound forth my Brayers, and the welkin rend"

Etymology

From bray + -er.

Related phrases

break up

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.