pap

¹

[ pap ]

noun

1. soft food for infants or invalids, as bread soaked in water or milk.
2. an idea, talk, book, or the like, lacking substance or real value.

   Synonyms: twaddle, balderdash, drivel

pap

²

[ pap ]

noun

, Chiefly Dialect.

1. a teat; nipple.
2. something resembling a teat or nipple.

pap

¹

/ pæp /

noun

1. dialect.
   a nipple or teat
2. 1. something resembling a breast or nipple, such as (formerly) one of a pair of rounded hilltops
   2. ( capital as part of a name )

      the Pap of Glencoe

pap

²

/ pæp /

noun

1. any soft or semiliquid food, such as bread softened with milk, esp for babies or invalids; mash
2. porridge made from maize
3. worthless or oversimplified ideas; drivel

   intellectual pap

pap

³

/ pæp /

verb

1. (of the paparazzi) to follow and photograph (a famous person)

Other Words From

• paplike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pap¹

1400–50; late Middle English; a nursery word akin to Dutch pap, German Pappe, Latin, Italian pappa

Origin of pap²

1150–1200; Middle English pappe; compare dialectal Norwegian, Swedish pappe, Latin papilla ( papilla ), Lithuanian pãpas, all from a base *pap- ; akin to pap ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of pap¹

C12: of Scandinavian origin, imitative of a sucking sound; compare Latin papilla nipple, Sanskrit pippalaka

Origin of pap²

C15: from Middle Low German pappe, via Medieval Latin from Latin pappāre to eat; compare Dutch pap, Italian pappa

Origin of pap³

C20: from paparazzo

Example Sentences

So, when she asked for a pap and sexually transmitted infection screening, her nurse was confused.

From The Daily Beast

Robyn was in her senior year of college in January 2008 when she found out she had an abnormal pap smear.

From The Daily Beast

Six years later, she has had to monitor her health with regular pap smears and biopsies.

From The Daily Beast

Erica was 22 when her doctor called her and said she had an abnormal pap smear.

From The Daily Beast

There is, inevitably, a lot of self-serving humbug and a lot of tedious pap.

From The Daily Beast

So I knowed, then, that this warn't pap, but a woman dressed up in a man's clothes.

From Project Gutenberg

I didn't want to go to school much before, but I reckoned I'd go now to spite pap.

From Project Gutenberg

I had stopped cussing, because the widow didn't like it; but now I took to it again because pap hadn't no objections.

From Project Gutenberg

I got rid of the signs of my work, and dropped the blanket and hid my saw, and pretty soon pap come in.

From Project Gutenberg

Pap he hadn't been seen for more than a year, and that was comfortable for me; I didn't want to see him no more.

From Project Gutenberg