boilerplate
a piece of text
TRANSLATION
boilerplate (fig.) = der Textbaustein, die Vorlage boilerplate (tech.) = das Kesselblech boilerplate (adj) = ordinär, gewöhnlich --- GOOGLE INDEX boilerplate: approximately 4,600,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Whether your website is part of the corporate site or stands on its own, repetition of company BOILERPLATE descriptions can be problematic for search engine rankings.
(www.business2community.com)
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The first 13 pages of the 28-page contract is largely BOILERPLATE legal stuff.
(Salon magazine)
(www.business2community.com)
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The first 13 pages of the 28-page contract is largely BOILERPLATE legal stuff.
(Salon magazine)
Did you
know?
boilerplate
noun
(fig.)
- standardized pieces of text for use as clauses in contracts or as part of a computer program
- clichéd or predictable ideas or writing
(tech.)
- rolled steel plates for making boilers
(Oxford English Dictionaries)
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In the late 19th century, American news agencies provided material to small-town newspapers on a regular basis. This was done by sending articles that were already set on so-called mats, which were essentially typeset moulds. Molten lead was then poured into the moulds to create a plate that was used to print the article.
The connection between these plates and the boiling lead has led some etymologists to suggest that this is the origin of the expression boilerplate. While this is a plausible explanation, others believe the term comes from the fact that the mats look like the standard-sized metal plates that were used to construct steam boilers during this time.
Another theory, pushed by Richard Weiner in his Webster’s New World Dictionary of Media Communications, relates to the fact that many American newspaper syndicates started in Chicago. This included the American Press Association, which was founded in 1892 in the same building as a sheet-iron factory. Chicago printers supposedly dubbed the noisy American Press offices a boilerplate factory.
In any case, in a figurative sense boilerplate has come to mean standardized text that keeps writers from having to "reinvent the wheel" every time they create an article. This practice is especially useful for corporate press releases, which typically contain boilerplate information such as a company profile. The expression is also used in derogatory manner to describe text that relies on unoriginal stock writing.
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SYNONYMS
(when used as an adjective)
common, garden-variety, regular, run-of-the-mill, standard, stereotypical
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Many e-mail messages are simply boilerplate answers."
noun
(fig.)
- standardized pieces of text for use as clauses in contracts or as part of a computer program
- clichéd or predictable ideas or writing
(tech.)
- rolled steel plates for making boilers
(Oxford English Dictionaries)
---
In the late 19th century, American news agencies provided material to small-town newspapers on a regular basis. This was done by sending articles that were already set on so-called mats, which were essentially typeset moulds. Molten lead was then poured into the moulds to create a plate that was used to print the article.
The connection between these plates and the boiling lead has led some etymologists to suggest that this is the origin of the expression boilerplate. While this is a plausible explanation, others believe the term comes from the fact that the mats look like the standard-sized metal plates that were used to construct steam boilers during this time.
Another theory, pushed by Richard Weiner in his Webster’s New World Dictionary of Media Communications, relates to the fact that many American newspaper syndicates started in Chicago. This included the American Press Association, which was founded in 1892 in the same building as a sheet-iron factory. Chicago printers supposedly dubbed the noisy American Press offices a boilerplate factory.
In any case, in a figurative sense boilerplate has come to mean standardized text that keeps writers from having to "reinvent the wheel" every time they create an article. This practice is especially useful for corporate press releases, which typically contain boilerplate information such as a company profile. The expression is also used in derogatory manner to describe text that relies on unoriginal stock writing.
---
SYNONYMS
(when used as an adjective)
common, garden-variety, regular, run-of-the-mill, standard, stereotypical
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Many e-mail messages are simply boilerplate answers."
