Chase (A)

An iron frame used by printers for holding sufficient type for one side of a sheet. The type is first set up letter by letter in the “composing stick,” and is then transferred to the “galley,” where it appears in columns. It is next divided into pages, and then transferred to the chase, where it is held tight by quoins, or small wedges of wood. The word is French, chasse (a frame); our case-ment. (See Stick.)

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.