blueprint, design, pattern (noun)

something intended as a guide for making something else

"a blueprint for a house"; "a pattern for a skirt"

blueprint (verb)

photographic print of plans or technical drawings etc.

blueprint, draft, draught (verb)

make a blueprint of

blueprint (Noun)

A type of paper-based reproduction process producing white-on-blue images, used primarily for technical and architecture's drawings, now largely replaced by other technologies.

blueprint (Noun)

A print produced with this process.

blueprint (Noun)

A detailed technical drawing (now often in some electronically storable and transmissible form).

blueprint (Noun)

Any detailed plan, whether literal or figurative.

blueprint (Verb)

To make a blueprint for.

blueprint (Verb)

To make a detailed operational plan for.

Blueprint

A blueprint is a reproduction of a technical drawing, documenting an architecture or an engineering design, using a contact print process on light-sensitive sheets. Invented in the 19th century, the process allowed rapid and accurate reproduction of documents used in construction and industry. The blue-print process was characterized by light colored lines on a blue background, a negative of the original. The process was unable to reproduce color or shades of grey. Various base materials have been used for blueprints. Paper was a common choice; for more durable prints linen was sometimes used, but with time, the linen prints would shrink slightly. To combat this problem, printing on imitation vellum and, later, polyester film was implemented. The process has been largely displaced by the diazo whiteprint process and by large-format xerographic photocopiers, so reproduced drawings are usually called "prints" or just "drawings".