paper

English
A sheet of paper.

Etymology

From Middle English paper, borrowed from Anglo-Norman paper, from Old French papier, from Latin papȳrus, from Ancient Greek πάπυρος (pápuros). Doublet of papyrus.

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpeɪpə/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpeɪpɚ/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪpə(ɹ)

Noun

paper (countable and uncountable, plural papers)

  1. A sheet material used for writing on or printing on (or as a non-waterproof container), usually made by draining cellulose fibres from a suspension in water.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 10, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.
  2. A newspaper or anything used as such (such as a newsletter or listing magazine).
    • 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen, OCLC 12026604; republished New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1919, OCLC 491297620:
      "I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." ¶ "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal. […]."
    • 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court:
      “Anthea hasn't a notion in her head but to vamp a lot of silly mugwumps. She's set her heart on that tennis bloke […] whom the papers are making such a fuss about.”
  3. (uncountable) Wallpaper.
  4. (uncountable) Wrapping paper.
  5. (rock paper scissors) An open hand (a handshape resembling a sheet of paper), that beats rock and loses to scissors. It loses to lizard and beats Spock in rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock.
  6. A written document, generally shorter than a book (white paper, term paper), in particular one written for the Government.
  7. A written document that reports scientific or academic research and is usually subjected to peer review before publication in a scientific journal (as a journal article or the manuscript for one) or in the proceedings of a scientific or academic meeting (such as a conference, workshop, or symposium).
  8. A scholastic essay.
  9. (slang) Money.
  10. (New Zealand) A university course.
  11. A paper packet containing a quantity of items.
    a paper of pins, tacks, opium, etc.
  12. A medicinal preparation spread upon paper, intended for external application.
    cantharides paper
  13. A substance resembling paper secreted by certain invertebrates as protection for their nests and eggs.

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations
newspaper — see newspaper
wallpaper — see wallpaper
wrapping paper — see wrapping paper

Adjective

paper (not comparable)

  1. Made of paper.
    paper bag;  paper plane
    • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], OCLC 16832619:
      At twilight in the summer […] the mice come out. They […] eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly […] on the floor.
  2. Insubstantial (from the weakness of common paper)
    paper tiger;  paper gangster
  3. Planned (from plans being drawn up on paper)
    paper rocket;  paper engine

Translations

See also

Verb

paper (third-person singular simple present papers, present participle papering, simple past and past participle papered)

  1. (transitive) To apply paper to.
    to paper the hallway walls
  2. (transitive) To document; to memorialize.
    After they reached an agreement, their staffs papered it up.
  3. (transitive) To fill a theatre or other paid event with complimentary seats.
    As the event has not sold well, we'll need to paper the house.
  4. (transitive) To submit papers to (a law court, etc.).
    • 2006, Drusilla Modjeska, The Best Australian Essays 2006
      As powerhouse lawyers shuttled to Cuba to meet clients and papered the federal courts with habeas corpus petitions, Guantanamo's isolation and lack of publicity, once the military's most powerful psychological weapon, was eliminated.
    • 2007, Thomas M. Hanna, The Employer's Legal Advisor: Handling Problem Employees Effectively ...
      […] the warning received only six weeks later for poor attendance as proof that the employer was unjustly papering his personnel file in an effort to create a reason for discharge.
  5. (transitive) To give public notice (typically by displaying posters) that a person is wanted by the police or other authority.

Translations
to document — see document

Catalan

Etymology

First attested 1249. From Latin papȳrus (via a semi-learned route and adapted to a Catalan suffix[1][2]; cf. Medieval Latin paperium), from Ancient Greek πάπυρος (pápuros). Paper-making was introduced to Europe by the Arabs in the Middle Ages through Italy and Spain/Catalonia[3]. Compare also Old Occitan and French papier, Occitan papièr, Old French paper.

Pronunciation

Noun

paper m (plural papers)

  1. paper
  2. role

Further reading

Latvian

Verb

paper

  1. 2nd person singular present indicative form of papērt
  2. 3rd person singular present indicative form of papērt
  3. 3rd person plural present indicative form of papērt
  4. 2rd singular imperative form of papērt
  5. (with the particle lai) 3rd person singular imperative form of papērt
  6. (with the particle lai) 3rd person plural imperative form of papērt

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman paper, from Latin papȳrus, from Ancient Greek πάπυρος (pápuros).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /paˈpɛːr/, /paːˈpɛːr/, /ˈpaːpɛr/, /ˈpapɛr/, /ˈpaːpiːr/

Noun

paper (plural papyres)

  1. paper (a thin, white, and flat writing surface made of wood)
  2. A text, message or note; something that is written.
  3. A record or accounting document.

Descendants

References

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin papȳrus (likely via a northern Italian intermediate, itself a semi-learned derivative of Medieval Latin paperium), from Ancient Greek πάπυρος (pápuros). Cf. the regional variant paupier. Cognate with Old Occitan papier. Compare also the Medieval Judeo-French paveil (“type of reed”), inherited from a Vulgar Latin form *papelius. Paper-making was introduced to Europe by the Arabs in the Middle Ages through Italy and Spain/Catalonia[4].

Noun

paper m (oblique plural papers, nominative singular papers, nominative plural paper)

  1. reed (plant)
  2. paper (for writing on, etc.)
  3. document

Descendants

References
  1. http://www.diccionari.cat/lexicx.jsp?GECART=0147774
  2. https://www.scribd.com/document/220768067/Corominas-Diccionario-Etimologico
  3. http://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/papier
  4. http://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/papier
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.