Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- a piece of blotting paper used to absorb excess ink, to protect a desk top, etc.
- a book in which transactions or events, as sales or arrests, are recorded as they occur: a police blotter.
- Machinery. a soft washer of blotting paper or felt for cushioning a brittle object against shock or pressure or for increasing the friction or contact area between two surfaces.
noun
- something used to absorb excess ink or other liquid, esp a sheet of blotting paper with a firm backing
- US a daily record of events, such as arrests, in a police station (esp in the phrase police blotter)
1590s, “thing for drying wet spots,” agent noun from blot (v.). Meaning “bad writer” is from c.1600. Sense of “day book” is from 1670s, and the word was applied early 19c. to rough drafts, scrap books, notebooks, and draft account books. Hence the police jargon sense “arrest record sheet,” recorded from 1887.