paint

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French peintier, paincter, itself from paint, the past participle of paindre, from Latin pingō (“to paint”) (perfect passive participle pictus).

• IPA^(key): /peɪnt/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -eɪnt

paint (countable and uncountable, plural paints)

1. A substance that is applied as a liquid or paste, and dries into a solid coating that protects or adds color/colour to an object or surface to which it has been applied.
2. (in the plural) A set of containers or blocks of paint of different colors/colours, used for painting pictures.
   • 2007, Jesse Guthrie, Catherine's Addiction (page 116)

     René went back into the kitchen and put a pot of coffee on, got out his paints and started on a new painting. He felt inspired.

3. (basketball, slang) The free-throw lane, construed with the.

   The Nimrods are strong on the outside, but not very good in the paint.

   • 2013 December 12, “JV Dogs suffer first loss, 47-41”, in Martinez (California) News-Gazette:

     Early on it was the Bulldogs who were clearly the aggressors, playing hard in the paint and getting baskets with muscle more than with their shooting prowess.

   • 2016 April 20, “Hawks not giving Celtics anything in the paint”, in Comcast SportsNet New England:

     Isaiah Thomas is very clever, very crafty getting to the paint and finishing in the paint.

   • 2016 May 22, “Renewed defensive strategy has Raptors alive in conference finals”, in USA TODAY:

     In Game 3, they re-focused on protecting the paint and transition defense. The Cavs scored 106 points in the paint in the first two games and just 20 in Game 3.

4. (uncountable, paintball, slang) Paintballs.

   I am running low on paint for my marker.

5. (poker, slang) A face card (king, queen, or jack).
6. (computing, attributive) Graphics drawn using an input device, not scanned or generated.
   • 1993, Emil Ihrig, CorelDRAW! 4 made easy

     It combines traditional paint capabilities with photograph enhancement features.

   • 1998, Kit Laybourne, The animation book: a complete guide to animated filmmaking

     Computer paint software operates similarly but adds features that are delightfully familiar and useful to artists trained in traditional graphics materials.

   • 2001, Maureen Sprankle, Problem Solving for Information Processing

     If using a paint package, you must specify the color before you draw the line or shape.

7. Makeup.
   • 2012, Caleb Pirtle & Shelly Marshall, Other Voices, Other Towns: The Traveler's Story:

     They were as plain and homely as a table-top dancer when the rains had wiped the paint and powder from her face.

• Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. →ISBN

paint (third-person singular simple present paints, present participle painting, simple past and past participle painted)

1. (transitive) To apply paint to.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess‎:

     The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. To display them the walls had been tinted a vivid blue which had now faded, but the carpet, which had evidently been stored and recently relaid, retained its original turquoise.

2. (transitive) To apply in the manner that paint is applied.
3. (transitive) To cover (something) with spots of colour, like paint.
   • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)

     not painted with the crimson spots of blood

   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     Cuckoo buds of yellow hue / Do paint the meadows with delight.

4. (transitive) To create (an image) with paints.

   to paint a portrait or a landscape

5. (intransitive) To practise the art of painting pictures.

   I've been painting since I was a young child.

6. (transitive, computing) To draw an element in a graphical user interface.
   • 1991, Ernest R Tello, Object-oriented Programming for Windows

     Sent to a minimized window when the icon's background must be filled before it is painted.

7. (transitive, figuratively) To depict or portray.

   She sued the author of the biography, claiming it painted her as a duplicitous fraud.

   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     Disloyal? / The word is too good to paint out her wickedness.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Alexander Pope

     If folly grow romantic, I must paint it.

8. (intransitive) To color one's face by way of beautifying it.
   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     Let her paint an inch thick.

9. (transitive, military, slang) To direct a radar beam toward.

• picture

• paint in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• paint in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• paint at OneLook Dictionary Search

• Atnip, NAITP, inapt, inpat, nip at, patin, pinta, tap in, tap-in

paint

1. present participle of pair