plaster

[ plas-ter, plah-ster ]

See synonyms for: plaster plastered on Thesaurus.com

noun

a composition, as of lime or gypsum, sand, water, and sometimes hair or other fiber, applied in a pasty form to walls, ceilings, etc., and allowed to harden and dry.
powdered gypsum.

plaster of Paris.
a solid or semisolid preparation spread upon cloth, plastic, or other material and applied to the body, especially for some healing purpose.

verb (used with object)

to cover (walls, ceilings, etc.) with plaster.
to treat with gypsum or plaster of Paris.

to lay flat like a layer of plaster.
to daub or fill with plaster or something similar.
to apply a plaster to (the body, a wound, etc.).
to overspread with something, especially thickly or excessively: a wall plastered with posters.
Informal.
- to defeat decisively; trounce; drub.
- to knock down or injure, as by a blow or beating.
- to inflict serious damage or injury on by heavy bombing, shelling, or other means of attack.

Origin of plaster

First recorded before 1000; Middle English, Old English, from Medieval Latin plastrum “plaster” (both medical and building senses), aphetic variant of Latin emplastrum, from Greek émplastron “salve,” alteration of émplaston, neuter of émplastos “daubed”; see em-², -plast

Also Archaic, plais·ter [pley-ster] /ˈpleɪ stər/ .

Other words from plaster

plas·ter·er, noun
plas·ter·i·ness, noun
plas·ter·like, plas·ter·y, adjective
re·plas·ter, verb (used with object)
un·plas·ter, verb (used with object)

Words Nearby plaster

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use plaster in a sentence

The remains were so fragile, our team had to cover them in plaster and remove them intact with the block of sediment in which they were buried.
A Cave Site in Kenya’s Forests Reveals the Oldest Human Burial in Africa | Alison Crowther | May 28, 2021 | Singularity Hub
Investigators excavated the entire pit in 2017 and covered it in plaster for transport to the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi.
A child’s 78,000-year-old grave marks Africa’s oldest known human burial | Bruce Bower | May 5, 2021 | Science News
“There’s a massive opportunity, in terms of the impact on working mothers in particular — this could potentially be really good in the longer term, as we’ve now ripped the plaster off around flexible working,” she said.
‘There’s huge cultural stigma around role of dads’: More men are requesting flexible working | Jessica Davies | February 2, 2021 | Digiday
By making plaster casts of those impressions, archaeologists could see details like facial expressions and even the folds and pleats of clothing.
Archaeologists find two more bodies among the ruins of Pompeii | Kiona N. Smith | November 23, 2020 | Ars Technica
Then they used plaster mixed with other materials to cast the other 130 stones.
Stonehenge enhanced voices and music within the stone ring | Bruce Bower | September 29, 2020 | Science News For Students

While chipping away plaster from his kitchen wall, the Guatemalan man unearthed a series of centuries-old Mayan murals.
7 Historically Significant Artifacts Rescued by Happenstance | The Daily Beast | October 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Death masks are made from a cast of layered plaster strips laid on the face soon after death.
The Ukrainian Face Collector Launches an Exhibition in Kiev | Nina Strochlic | August 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Once dried, a liquid, such as plaster, wax, or bronze, is poured in for a perfect representation of the face.
The Ukrainian Face Collector Launches an Exhibition in Kiev | Nina Strochlic | August 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
We crossed a stream into a village of timbered white plaster houses, some with pretty wrought-iron balconies.
Is This Hemingway’s Pamplona or a Lot of Bull? | Clive Irving | July 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Her face was cast into a plaster mold, preserving her shy smile for posterity.
Brooklyn’s Museum of Death: Inside Morbid Anatomy’s House of Intriguing Horrors | Nina Strochlic | July 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
He laid it upon the floor, and took out a plaster mask, and brushing and blowing off the saw-dust, held it up.
Checkmate | Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
“It is a perfect identification,” murmured Mr. Arden, with his eyes still riveted on the plaster faces.
Checkmate | Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Now Isaias had ordered that they should take a lump of figs, and lay it as a plaster upon the wound, and that he should be healed.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version | Various
The plaster will show on the ground whether the sowing is being done evenly.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce | E. R. Billings.
A pint of meal and a pint of plaster to each rod, is a good mixture to sow in.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce | E. R. Billings.

British Dictionary definitions for plaster

plaster

/ (ˈplɑːstə) /

noun

a mixture of lime, sand, and water, sometimes stiffened with hair or other fibres, that is applied to the surface of a wall or ceiling as a soft paste that hardens when dry
British, Australian and NZ an adhesive strip of material, usually medicated, for dressing a cut, wound, etc

short for mustard plaster, plaster of Paris

verb

to coat (a wall, ceiling, etc) with plaster
(tr) to apply like plaster: she plastered make-up on her face

(tr) to cause to lie flat or to adhere
(tr) to apply a plaster cast to
(tr) slang to strike or defeat with great force

Origin of plaster

Old English, from Medieval Latin plastrum medicinal salve, building plaster, via Latin from Greek emplastron curative dressing, from em- + plassein to form

Derived forms of plaster

plasterer, noun
plastery, adjective

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

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