paste

[peyst]

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.

verb (used with object)

pasted, pasting 

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.

verb (used without object)

1. Computers.,  to insert copied text, images, etc., into a file.

paste

¹

/ peɪst /

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 confections

   almond paste

5. dough, esp when prepared with shortening, as for making pastry

6. 1. Also called: strass. a hard shiny glass used for making imitation gems

   2. an imitation gem made of this glass

7. the combined ingredients of porcelain See also hard paste soft paste

verb

1. to attach by or as if by using paste

   he pasted posters onto the wall

2. (usually foll by with) to cover (a surface) with paper, usually attached with an adhesive

   he pasted the wall with posters

paste

²

/ peɪst /

verb

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

Other Word Forms

• prepaste verb (used with object)
• repaste verb (used with object)
• semipaste noun
• unpaste verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of paste¹

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; paste ( defs. 9, 12 ) probably by association with baste ³

Word History and Origins

Origin of paste¹

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

Origin of paste²

C19: variant of _baste ³

Example Sentences

A small Ghanaian flag is crudely pasted in the corner of the pin, as if only an afterthought.

Read more on Literature

Instant oats are cut fine and processed to absorb liquid fast, which means that after a night in the fridge they collapse into paste.

Read more on Salon

I wish I had a camera so I could take a photograph of it and paste it here, Diary.

Read more on Literature

Three hours later Gagarin, Titov, and Korolev sat together for a breakfast of Soviet space food—brown paste from a tube.

Read more on Literature

With shelves full of whitening, charcoal, and enamel-boosting pastes, it's easy to assume the pricier options will give you a healthier smile.

Read more on BBC