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paper over

verb

  1. tr, adverb to conceal (something controversial or unpleasant)
“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


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Idioms and Phrases

Also, paper over the cracks . Repair superficially, conceal, especially flaws. For example, He used some accounting gimmicks to paper over a deficit , or It was hardly a perfect settlement, but they decided to paper over the cracks . The German statesman Otto von Bismarck first used this analogy in a letter in 1865, and the first recorded example in English, in 1910, referred to it. The allusion is to covering cracked plaster with wallpaper, thereby improving its appearance but not the underlying defect.
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Example Sentences

He turned the paper over to the boys, who immediately set to work making scratches in the morning line, to protect their bets.

But both sides have a powerful incentive to paper over their disagreements.

But their not-so-subtle digs at President George W. Bush paper over their own unforced errors.

Lamb turned the paper over and winked at himself in the concave mirror of the semi-circle of bar.

This note she pinned on the muff, and herself folded the soft paper over it as it lay in the box.

Place a piece of buttered paper over the dish, and bake in a moderate oven till it is tender, basting it frequently.

This in his own paper over his own signature was a body blow; but it had the effect of curing his cold.

They left the room, and Miss Laura sat turning the sheet of paper over and over, with a kind of horror in her face.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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