stencil

noun

1. A thin sheet, either perforated or using some other technique, with which a pattern may be produced upon a surface; a utensil that contains a perforated sheet.

   “You do not necessarily need to have a stencil brush to paint over a stencil.”

2. A pattern produced using such a utensil.

   “In 2013 a damaged stencil of a rat and an image of a girl hugging a bomb were painted over on the walls of a Fitzroy church by the building owner’s father-in-law, who tried to help out by painting the building while house sitting. He did not know the significance of the stencils.”

3. A two-ply master sheet for use with a mimeograph.

verb

1. (intransitive, transitive)To print with a stencil.

   “Stencilled letters were used for words and phrases, as well as for captions for some of his stencil “prints,” print being used in the sense of a multicolor woodcut.”