Glossary
Bindery Worker Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential bindery worker terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key bindery worker vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in bindery worker training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Collating
- Gathering in order.
- Creep
- Page shift in booklets.
- Grain direction
- Paper fiber direction.
- Guillotine
- Paper cutter.
- Makeready
- Setup before a run.
- Perfect binding
- Glued spine.
- Proof
- Test print for approval.
- Registration
- Alignment of colors.
- Saddle stitch
- Stapling through the fold.
- Score
- Crease for folding.
- Shrink wrap
- Plastic packaging.
- Signature
- Folded sheet of pages.
- Spoilage
- Wasted sheets.
- Substrate
- Material printed on.
- Trim size
- Final size.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Bindery Worker practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Bindery Worker training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.