Printer
Printer turns up in 2 fields: printing, shop slang. Here is what it means to the people in each one.
Printer in printing
A person who operates a printing press, or a company that provides commercial printing services.
A skilled tradesperson who sets up, operates, and maintains printing presses to produce printed material. In a broader commercial sense, it refers to the entire manufacturing business that executes print jobs for publishers and clients. The role requires deep knowledge of mechanics, color theory, ink chemistry, and paper behavior.
"The printer called to say they have to delay the run because the coated stock we ordered is backordered."
Printer in shop slang
A peripheral machine that produces physical copies of digital documents, notorious for mechanical unreliability.
A printer transfers text and schematics from a computer onto paper using ink or toner. In workshops and site offices, these machines are essential for generating physical work orders, shipping labels, and blueprints. They are universally despised by crews for their tendency to jam, run out of toner at critical moments, and display cryptic error codes.
"The printer is flashing a paper jam error again, so I can't get the shipping manifests out for the morning truck."