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paste

[peyst]
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noun
  1. a mixture of flour and water, often with starch or the like, used for causing paper or other material to adhere to something.
  2. any soft, smooth, and plastic material or preparation.
  3. dough, especially when prepared with shortening, as for making pie crust and other pastry: puff paste.
  4. any of various semisoft fruit confections of pliable consistency: almond paste; guava paste.
  5. a preparation of fish, tomatoes, or other food reduced to a smooth, soft mass, as for a relish or for seasoning.
  6. pasta.
  7. a mixture of clay, water, etc., for making pottery or porcelain.
  8. Jewelry.
    1. a brilliant, heavy glass, as strass, used for making artificial gems.
    2. an artificial gem of this material.
  9. Slang. a hard smack, blow, or punch, especially on the face.
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verb (used with object), past·ed, past·ing.
  1. to fasten or stick with paste or the like.
  2. to cover with something applied by means of paste.
  3. Slang. to hit (a person) hard, especially on the face.
  4. Computers. to insert (copied text, images, etc.) into a file.Compare copy(def 15), cut(def 24).
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verb (used without object)
  1. Computers. to insert copied text, images, etc., into a file.Compare cut(def 42).
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Origin of paste

1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French < Late Latin pasta dough < Greek pastá barley porridge, noun use of neuter plural of pastós, verbid of pássein to strew, sprinkle; a pasta was originally a kind of gruel sprinkled with salt; (defs 9, 12) probably by association with baste3
Related formspre·paste, verb (used with object), pre·past·ed, pre·past·ing.re·paste, verb (used with object), re·past·ed, re·past·ing.sem·i·paste, nounun·paste, verb (used with object), un·past·ed, un·past·ing.
Can be confusedpassed past paste
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

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British Dictionary definitions for paste

paste1

noun
  1. a mixture or material of a soft or malleable consistency, such as toothpaste
  2. an adhesive made from water and flour or starch, used esp for joining pieces of paper
  3. a preparation of food, such as meat, that has been powdered to a creamy mass, for spreading on bread, crackers, etc
  4. any of various sweet doughy confectionsalmond paste
  5. dough, esp when prepared with shortening, as for making pastry
    1. Also called: strassa hard shiny glass used for making imitation gems
    2. an imitation gem made of this glass
  7. the combined ingredients of porcelainSee also hard paste, soft paste
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verb (tr)
  1. (often foll by on or onto) to attach by or as if by using pastehe pasted posters onto the wall
  2. (usually foll by with) to cover (a surface) with paper, usually attached with an adhesivehe pasted the wall with posters
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Word Origin

C14: via Old French from Late Latin pasta dough, from Greek pastē barley porridge, from pastos, from passein to sprinkle

paste2

verb
  1. (tr) slang to hit, esp with the fists; punch or beat soundly
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Word Origin

C19: variant of baste ³
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 paste

n.

c.1300 (mid-12c. as a surname), "dough," from Old French paste "dough, pastry" (13c., Modern French pâte), from Late Latin pasta "dough, pastry cake, paste" (see pasta). Meaning "glue mixture" is first attested mid-15c.

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v.2

"hit hard," 1846, probably an alteration of baste "beat" (see lambaste). Related: Pasted; pasting.

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v.1

"to stick with paste," 1560s; see paste (n.). Related: Pasted; pasting.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
paste in Medicine

paste

(pāst)
n.
  1. A smooth semisolid mixture, soft enough to flow slowly and not retain its shape.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.