papier-mâché

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

noun

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

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

Also paper-mâché.

Origin of papier-mâché

1745–55; < French: literally, chewed paper

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for papier-mache

Historical Examples of papier-mache

Why, look at our two others yonder: they have papier-mache faces, too!
Fruitfulness
Emile Zola
"I don't hold with any make of papier-mache wheel," the Mogul insisted.
The Day's Work, Volume 1
Rudyard Kipling
But we havent so much as a papier-mache Easter chick, objected Louise.
Winona of the Camp Fire
Margaret Widdemer
Then came floats with papier-mache figures caricaturing political events in the history of the Republic.
Francisco Our Little Argentine Cousin
Eva Cannon Brooks
As she hung her wrap in the corner of her room, her eye fell upon the papier-mache lunch box.
The Secret Mark
Roy J. Snell

British Dictionary definitions for papier-mache

papier-mâché

noun

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

made of papier-mâché

Word Origin for papier-mâché

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

Word Origin and History for papier-mache

also papier mache, 1753, from French papier-mâché, literally "chewed paper," from Old French papier "paper" (see paper (n.)) + mâché "compressed, mashed," from past participle of mâcher, literally "to chew," from Late Latin masticare "masticate" (see mastication).