Off stone

The term comes from the early days of printing when an imposing stone, a slab of stone or metal on which the type was set into a layout (or forme), was used to align the text.

Although in the modern world of desktop publishing this physical process no longer happens, it is still used colloquially by those in the press to denote the time when an edition of a newspaper is finalised.

Here is an example usage from the MediaGuardian on January 29, 2007:

Veronica Wadley (editor of the Evening Standard): "We have more stories, we have greater depth, we have comment, we have more information, and we have a later edition. Our West End final is off stone about 4pm, while the free papers are off stone at about midday."