In the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, off stone is the moment at which an edition of a newspaper is finalised for printing and no further changes can be made. "Off stone" comes a short time after the final
deadline for submission of images or articles for editing. The term comes from the early days of printing when an imposing stone, a slab of stone or metal on which the type was set into a layout (or ''
forme
Forme may refer to the following:
* Forme (printing), a chase with type locked up ready for printing
* Forme, Škofja Loka, a settlement in Slovenia
* Forme Tour, a professional golf tour
See also
* FORM (disambiguation)
* Form (disambiguation)< ...
''), was used to align the text.
Here is an example usage from the
MediaGuardian on 29 January 2007:
Veronica Wadley (editor of the ''Evening Standard
The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...
''): "We have more stories, we have greater depth, we have comment, we have more information, and we have a later edition. Our West End final is off stone about 4pm, while the free papers are off stone at about midday."
References
Printing
{{UK-newspaper-stub