wadding

American  

[wod-ing] / ˈwɒd ɪŋ /

noun

1. any fibrous or soft material for stuffing, padding, packing, etc., especially carded cotton in specially prepared sheets.

2. material used as wads for guns, cartridges, etc.

3. Surgery. any large dressing made of cotton or a similar absorbent material that is used to stanch the flow of blood or dress a wound.

4. a wad or lump.

---

wadding British  

/ ˈwɒdɪŋ /

noun

1. 1. any fibrous or soft substance used as padding, stuffing, etc, esp sheets of carded cotton prepared for the purpose

   2. a piece of this

2. material for wads used in cartridges or guns

---

Etymology

Origin of wadding

First recorded in 1620–30; wad ¹ + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

It is a pastime that requires next-level commitment, though, as Ioan often spends days deep underground at a time, digging passages, or wadding through partially submerged caves.

From BBC • Oct. 14, 2023

Composed of salvaged vintage linen or dupioni silk and stuffed with mattresslike wadding and sometimes pieces of wood for stability, they only look hard; in reality, they’re soft, even slightly yielding.

From New York Times • Sep. 21, 2022

They lack the deadly bullet point, which is usually replaced with cotton or paper wadding.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 22, 2021

Soldiers sometimes carried cartridges, which were powder and ball pre-wrapped in wadding, ready to be rammed down the barrel.

From Washington Post • Jul. 16, 2020

But the cock-a-doodle-dos pierced both his thick adobe walls and the cotton wadding, and in short order the shrill cries had made his exhausted brain feel all foamy, like a vanilla milkshake.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

Related Words

• bundle
• chunk
• clump
• lump
• packet