paste

American  

[peyst] / peɪst /

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)

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 British  

/ 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

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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 British  

/ peɪst /

verb

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

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Other Word Forms

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

Etymology

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

Example Sentences

This game is more about how Aston Villa respond to their defeat at Arsenal, because they took a bit of a pasting.

From BBC

Bisquick, bouillon paste, stock powder and even pickle juice can transform a weeknight scramble or a forgotten vegetable into something rich and surprising.

From Salon

For nonperishables, picking up an extra can or two of beans, a jar of tomato paste, or a staple oil can quietly change the trajectory of your weeknight cooking.

From Salon

The U.S. botched copying and pasting a relatively straightforward warship already in service in Europe.

From The Wall Street Journal

Standing around a kitchen island with a small group of other food writers, I pull on a pair of plastic gloves and begin massaging a bright red paste into wedges of cabbage.

From BBC