papier-mâché

[ pey-per-muh-shey, -ma-; French pa-pyey-mah-shey ]

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.

adjective
  1. made of papier-mâché.

  2. easily destroyed or discredited; false, pretentious, or illusory: a papier-mâché façade of friendship.

Origin of papier-mâché

1
1745–55; <French: literally, “chewed paper”
  • Also pa·per-mâ·ché [pey-per-muh-shey, -ma-] /ˌpeɪ pər məˈʃeɪ, -mæ-/ .

Words Nearby papier-mâché

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

How to use papier-mâché in a sentence

  • Stuff shell with tow to hold papier mache filling of limbs in place until dry.

    Taxidermy | Leon Luther Pray
  • Turtles mounted with sawdust dry very quickly and usually very slowly when finished in papier mache.

    Taxidermy | Leon Luther Pray

British Dictionary definitions for papier-mâché

papier-mâché

/ (ˌpæpjeɪˈmæʃeɪ, French 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

adjective
  1. made of papier-mâché

Origin of papier-mâché

1
C18: from French, literally: chewed paper

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