To extract the thin metal strips of lead that separate lines of movable type in a composed galley or form. A compositor unleads a block of text to reduce its vertical depth, forcing the lines to sit solid against one another. This is usually done to make a lengthy article fit into a tighter space on the page.
Heard on the job
The story is running long, so tell the compositor to unlead the last three paragraphs.
Do not mix it up with
- Lead out: To lead out is to add spacing between lines, whereas to unlead is to remove it.