type / tīp/ • n. 1. a category of people or things having common characteristics: this type of heather grows better in a drier habitat blood types. ∎  a person, thing, or event considered as a representative of such a category: it's not the type of car I'd want my daughter to drive I'm an adventurous type. ∎  inf. a person of a specified character or nature: professor types in tweed. ∎  (one's type) inf. the sort of person one likes or finds attractive: she's not really my type. ∎  Linguistics an abstract category or class of linguistic item or unit, as distinct from actual occurrences in speech or writing. Contrasted with token.2. a person or thing symbolizing or exemplifying the ideal or defining characteristics of something: she characterized his witty sayings as the type of modern wisdom. ∎  an object, conception, or work of art serving as a model for subsequent artists. ∎ Bot. & Zool. an organism or taxon chosen as having the essential characteristics of its group. ∎ short for type specimen.3. printed characters or letters: bold or italic type. ∎  a piece of metal with a raised letter or character on its upper surface, for use in letterpress printing. ∎  such pieces collectively.4. a design on either side of a medal or coin.5. Theol. a foreshadowing in the Old Testament of a person or event of the Christian tradition.• v. [tr.] 1. write (something) on a typewriter or computer by pressing the keys: he typed out the second draft| [intr.] I am learning how to type. 2. Med. determine the type to which (a person or their blood or tissue) belongs: the kidney was typed.3. short for typecast.PHRASES: in type Printing composed and ready for printing.DERIVATIVES: typ·al / -pəl/ adj. ( rare ).

type.
1. Exemplar, pattern, prototype, or original work serving as a model after which a building or buildings are copied.

2. Something exemplifying the ideal characteristics of, say, a temple, so some would hold that the Parthenon is the very type of a Greek Doric temple.

3. Tester.

4. Top of a small cupola or turret, e.g. the crowning part of a Tudor turret, such as those of the White Tower, Tower of London (1532).

5. Form or character that distinguishes a class or group of buildings (building-type), e.g. church, mausoleum, town-hall, temple.

type emblem XV; mark, stamp XVI; characteristic or representative form XVII; block carrying a letter or figure used in printing XVIII. — F. type or L. typus — Gr. túpos blow, impression, image, figure, f. base of túptein strike, beat. Comp. typewriter (-ER1) XIX (whence type vb., typist XIX).
So typic typical. XVII. — F. typique — late L. typicus — Gr. tupikós. typical XVII. — medL. typicālis. typography XVII. — F. typographie or modL. typographia. typographical XVI. — modL. typographer XVII. — F. typographe or modL. typographus. Hence typify XVII.

type Short for data type, used especially in combination, as in logical type (or type logical) and integer type (or type integer).