paste

[ peyst ]
See synonyms for: pastepasting on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a mixture of flour and water, often with starch or the like, used for causing paper or other material to adhere to something.

  2. any soft, smooth, and plastic material or preparation.

  1. dough, especially when prepared with shortening, as for making pie crust and other pastry: puff paste.

  2. any of various semisoft fruit confections of pliable consistency: almond paste; guava paste.

  3. a preparation of fish, tomatoes, or other food reduced to a smooth, soft mass, as for a relish or for seasoning.

  4. a mixture of clay, water, etc., for making pottery or porcelain.

  5. Jewelry.

    • a brilliant, heavy glass, as strass, used for making artificial gems.

    • an artificial gem of this material.

  6. Slang. a hard smack, blow, or punch, especially on the face.

verb (used with object),past·ed, past·ing.
  1. to fasten or stick with paste or the like.

  2. to cover with something applied by means of paste.

  1. Slang. to hit (a person) hard, especially on the face.

  2. Computers. to insert (copied text, images, etc.) into a file.: Compare copy (def. 15), cut (def. 25).

verb (used without object)
  1. Computers. to insert copied text, images, etc., into a file.: Compare cut (def. 42).

Origin of paste

1
1350–1400; Middle English <Middle French <Late Latin pasta dough <Greek pastá barley porridge, noun use of neuter plural of pastós, verbid of pássein to strew, sprinkle; a pasta was originally a kind of gruel sprinkled with salt; (defs. 9, 12) probably by association with baste3

Other words from paste

  • pre·paste, verb (used with object), pre·past·ed, pre·past·ing.
  • re·paste, verb (used with object), re·past·ed, re·past·ing.
  • sem·i·paste, noun
  • un·paste, verb (used with object), un·past·ed, un·past·ing.

Words that may be confused with paste

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use paste in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for paste (1 of 2)

paste1

/ (peɪst) /


noun
  1. a mixture or material of a soft or malleable consistency, such as toothpaste

  2. an adhesive made from water and flour or starch, used esp for joining pieces of paper

  1. a preparation of food, such as meat, that has been powdered to a creamy mass, for spreading on bread, crackers, etc

  2. any of various sweet doughy confections: almond paste

  3. dough, esp when prepared with shortening, as for making pastry

    • Also called: strass a hard shiny glass used for making imitation gems

    • an imitation gem made of this glass

  4. the combined ingredients of porcelain: See also hard paste, soft paste

verb(tr)
  1. (often foll by on or onto) to attach by or as if by using paste: he pasted posters onto the wall

  2. (usually foll by with) to cover (a surface) with paper, usually attached with an adhesive: he pasted the wall with posters

Origin of paste

1
C14: via Old French from Late Latin pasta dough, from Greek pastē barley porridge, from pastos, from passein to sprinkle

British Dictionary definitions for paste (2 of 2)

paste2

/ (peɪst) /


verb
  1. (tr) slang to hit, esp with the fists; punch or beat soundly

Origin of paste

2
C19: variant of baste ³

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012