papier-mâché

American  

[pey-per-muh-shey, -ma-, pa-pyey-mah-shey] / ˌpeɪ pər məˈʃeɪ, -mæ-, pa pyeɪ mɑˈʃeɪ /

Also paper-mâché

noun

1. a substance made of pulped paper or paper pulp mixed with glue and other materials or of layers of paper glued and pressed together, molded when moist to form various articles, and becoming hard and strong when dry.

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adjective

1. made of papier-mâché.

2. easily destroyed or discredited; false, pretentious, or illusory.

   a papier-mâché façade of friendship.

papier-mâché British  

/ ˌpæpjeɪˈmæʃeɪ, papjemɑʃe /

noun

1. a hard strong substance suitable for painting on, made of paper pulp or layers of paper mixed with paste, size, etc, and moulded when moist

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adjective

1. made of papier-mâché

Etymology

Origin of papier-mâché

1745–55; < French: literally, “chewed paper”

Example Sentences

Why sign on to this modestly budgeted comic drama to play a mentally ill musician who wears a large papier-maché head over his own at all times, including while he eats, sleeps, and showers?

From Slate • Aug. 15, 2014

Model, in papier-maché, of the Martyrs' Memorial, beautifully executed.

From Annals of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, A.D. 1598-A.D. 1867 With a Preliminary Notice of the earlier Library founded in the Fourteenth Century by Macray, William Dunn

A skull which rises spontaneously from the hat.—This is a model in papier-maché, and being hollow, is very serviceable.

From Magic In which are given clear and concise explanations of all the well-known illusions as well as many new ones. by Stanton, Ellis

The tableau was enough—a sublimated symbol of the little papier-maché rigmarole of their daily lives, the immemorial spectacle of Good and Evil at death grips, limelighted for a moment by the cannon in France.

From Erik Dorn by Hecht, Ben

This papier-maché camouflage, made to imitate a dead horse, furnished good protection for the sharpshooter.

From Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights by Miller, Kelly