1. A printing process in which the image to be printed is rendered on a flat surface, as on sheet zinc or aluminum, and treated to retain ink while the nonimage areas are treated to repel ink.

1. the process of printing a lithograph on a hard, flat surface; originally the printing surface was a flat piece of stone that was etched with acid to form a surface that would selectively transfer ink to the paper; the stone has now been replaced, in general, with a metal plate.

1. the art or process of putting designs or writing, with a greasy material, on stone, and of producing printed impressions therefrom. the process depends, in the main, upon the antipathy between grease and water, which prevents a printing ink containing oil from adhering to wetted parts of the stone not covered by the design. see lithographic limestone, under lithographic.
2. a printing process for reproducing images, using any flat surface, such as a metal plate, in a manner similar to lithography{1}.
3. the process of producing patterns on semiconductor crystals by exposing photosensitive coatings on a matrix, such as silicon, to light patterns in the form desired for the circuit, and subsequently treating (e.g., chemically) the patterns thus formed in such a way as to create integrated semiconductor circuits with the desired properties. this is the principle method (1990's) to create the high-density integrated circuits used in the digital computers on which you are reading this.

1. the art of making a picture, design, or writing upon stone in such a manner that ink-impressions can be taken from the work, and of producing such impressions by a process analogous to ordinary printing. lithography was invented by Aloys Senefelder of munich, about 1796.

1. a method of planographic printing from a metal or stone surface
2. the act of making a lithographic print