bleed page

Printing industry term for a page on which the printed (inked) area does not have the usual blank (inkless) margins. In all printing processes, a narrow space must be left along the paper's edges for it to be gripped, and to prevent printing ink/toner from going on the ink-free/toner-free parts of the machine. Bleed printing is more expensive where it requires oversized printing plates and/or paper (from which inkless margins are trimmed off to leave only the inked part).