physiognotrace

English

Etymology

From physiognomy and trace.

Noun

physiognotrace (plural physiognotraces)

1. (historical) A device to facilitate the production of faithful profiles of human faces. [late 18th century]
   • 1994, Ellen Gross Miles with Dru Dowdy, Saint-Mémin and the neoclassical profile portrait in America:

     The history of the physiognotrace is addressed in several French articles and books.

   • 2004, Lisa Gitelman with Geoffrey B. Pingree, New Media, 1740-1915, page 36:

     Public enthusiasm for the physiognotrace turned in part upon the machine's ease, speed, and low expense.

   • 2010, Samuel Otter, Philadelphia stories: America's literature of race and freedom, page 91:

     At the end of the “Long Room” of the old State House, operating the physiognotrace soon after it had been installed and cutting out the profiles that the machine etched with its steel point, was Moses Williams, an African American

See also

• camera obscura
• pantograph