outline font

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

outline font
vector font

   <text> (Or "vector font") A {font} defined as a set of lines
   and curves as opposed to a {bitmap font}.  An outline font
   (e.g. {PostScript}, {TrueType}, {RISC OS}) can be scaled to any
   size and otherwise transformed more easily than a bitmap font,
   and with more attractive results, though this requires a lot
   of numerical processing.  The result of transforming a
   character in an outline font in a particular way is often
   saved as a bitmap in a {font cache} to avoid repeating the
   calculations if that character is to be drawn again.

   (1995-03-16)