papier-mâché

American  

[pey-per-muh-shey, -ma-, pa-pyey-mah-shey] / ˌpeɪ pər məˈʃeɪ, -mæ-, pa pyeɪ mɑˈʃeɪ /

Also paper-mâché

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.

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adjective

1. made of papier-mâché.

2. easily destroyed or discredited; false, pretentious, or illusory.

   a papier-mâché façade of friendship.

papier-mâché British  

/ ˌpæpjeɪˈmæʃeɪ, 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

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adjective

1. made of papier-mâché

Etymology

Origin of papier-mâché

1745–55; < French: literally, “chewed paper”

Example Sentences

Why sign on to this modestly budgeted comic drama to play a mentally ill musician who wears a large papier-maché head over his own at all times, including while he eats, sleeps, and showers?

From Slate • Aug. 15, 2014

This rigidity makes me think of the reproductions, or fac-similes, of a bust escaped from a sculptor's atelier, and I murmur, "One would think he was looking at busts moulded in papier-maché."

From Mysterious Psychic Forces An Account of the Author's Investigations in Psychical Research, Together with Those of Other European Savants by Flammarion, Camille

There were china, bisque, wooden, papier-maché, rag and rubber dolls, with yellow hair, red and brown and white hair, and complexions ranging from the daintiest pink to the deepest black.

From Dot and Tot of Merryland by Baum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank)

A skull which rises spontaneously from the hat.—This is a model in papier-maché, and being hollow, is very serviceable.

From Magic In which are given clear and concise explanations of all the well-known illusions as well as many new ones. by Stanton, Ellis

This difference will gradually transfer the manufacture of paper and papier-maché to this and similar forest districts.

From The South Isles of Aran by Burke, Oliver J.