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In typography, leading () refers to the distance between the baselines of successive lines of type. The term originated in the days of hand-typesetting, when thin strips of lead were inserted into the formes to increase the vertical distance between lines of type. The term is still used in modern page layout software such as QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign
In consumer-oriented word processing software, this concept is usually referred to as "line spacing" or "interline spacing."
Origins
The word comes from lead strips that were put between set lines. When type was set by hand in ...