paper over

British  

verb

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

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paper over Idioms  

1. 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 wrapped the corners of the tissue paper over the knits, then held the packet to his chest.

From Literature

I sat down, pulling her crumbled piece of paper over, and fixed the list, adding the two points she’d forgotten.

From Literature

That extends a rally in bonds that has clipped more than 30 basis points, or hundredths of a percentage point, from the yield on the benchmark paper over the past month.

From Barron's

A side aware of their cracks but unable to paper over them, never mind fix them.

From BBC

About ten young women sit at desks, their pencils flying over documents, their hands sliding colored slips of paper over giant tables of letters.

From Literature