Lithography \Li*thog"ra*phy\, n. [Cf. F. lithographie.]

The art or process of putting designs or writing, with a greasy material, on stone, and of producing printed impressions therefrom. The process depends, in the main, upon the antipathy between grease and water, which prevents a printing ink containing oil from adhering to wetted parts of the stone not covered by the design. See Lithographic limestone, under Lithographic.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)