I. ˈpāst noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin pasta dough, paste, perhaps from Greek pastē barley sauce, from feminine of pastos sprinkled, salted, from passein to sprinkle — more at quash
1.
a.
(1) : a dough containing a large proportion of fat that is used for pastry crust
(2) : a dough containing a moderate proportion of fat that is used for fancy rolls (as brioches)
b. : a confection made by evaporating fruit with sugar or by flavoring a gelatin, starch, or gum arabic preparation
c. : a soft or doughy mixture used as bait in fishing
d. : a smooth food product made by evaporation or grinding
almond paste
tomato paste
sardine paste
e.
[translation of Italian pasta ]
: alimentary paste
2. : a soft plastic mixture or composition: as
a.
(1) : a preparation usually of flour or starch and water used as a cement for uniting paper or other substances (as in bookbinding)
(2) : a similar preparation used in calico printing as a vehicle for mordant or color
b. : a moistened clay mixture that is used in making pottery or porcelain — see hard paste , soft paste
c. : an external medicament that has a stiffer consistency than an ointment but is less greasy because of its higher percentage of powdered ingredients
d. : a mixture of a pigment and a paint vehicle that requires the addition of more vehicle before it can be used
e. : a mixture of cement and water : the cement and water portion of mortar or concrete
3. : material , stuff
a man of a different paste — Robert Browning
4. : a brilliant glass of high lead content used for the manufacture of artificial gems ; also : an imitation gem made of this material — called also strass
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1.
a. : to cause to adhere by or as if by means of paste : stick
a poster that had just been pasted on a pillar of the general post office — O.S.J.Gogarty
a wry grin pasted onto his dirty face — William Chamberlain
b. : spread
gave him bread, and pasted the butter upon it very thickly — Louis Golding
the lamps along the river pasted long oily golden tracks on the water — R.H.Newman
2.
a. : to cover by or as if by pasting
the ceiling is pasted with labels of liquor brands — This Week in Chicago
b. : to repair (a target) for reuse by pasting paper over bullet holes
3. : to incorporate (as a color in dyeing) with a paste : apply paste to
4. : to convert into a paste
the dry powder is first pasted with cold water — Encyc. of Chem. Technol.
intransitive verb
: to apply paste : paste something
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: modification of Middle French passe, part of a woman's hat that shades the face, from passer to pass
: a woman's ornamental headdress of the 16th century
IV. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: alteration of baste (to beat)
1. : to hit hard : punch
brutally pasting him into a blubbering wreck — Hartley Howard
2. : to strike hard at : deliver a blow or series of blows against
that time they pasted the command post — Fred Majdalany
V. noun
( -s )
: a hard blow or punch
a paste in the jaw