# paste

Pronunciation: say "PAYST" /peɪst/

## Noun

1. Any soft, moist mixture, whatever it is made of or used for.
   - Simple: A soft, slightly wet mixture made of two or more things.
   - _Stir baking soda and water into a paste and scrub the stained grout with it._
   - _After the rain, the dust on the trail turned into a slippery gray paste._
2. A soft, moist mixture used as an adhesive, especially for hanging wallpaper and similar materials.
   - Simple: A soft, wet kind of glue, used especially to put up wallpaper.
   - _Brush the paste evenly over the back of each strip before hanging it._
   - _The old concert posters had been put up with a homemade paste that the rain soon softened._
4. A soft, moist mixture of pounded food, such as one made from fish, liver or tomatoes.
   - Simple: A soft food made by crushing something like fish, liver or tomatoes.
   - _The cook pounded the anchovies and capers into a salty paste for the dressing._
   - _The market stall sells a dozen curry and shrimp pastes in small glass jars._
6. A soft, moist mixture of flour, fat or similar ingredients, used in making pastry.
   - Simple: A soft mix of flour, fat and other things, used to make pastry.
   - _Knead the flour, lard and water into a firm paste, then chill it before rolling._
   - _A rich paste made with butter and egg yolks gives the tart a tender crust._
8. A hard glass containing lead, or an artificial gemstone made from that glass.
   - Simple: A hard kind of glass with lead in it, or a fake jewel made from it.
   - _The jeweler confirmed that the stones in the old brooch were paste, not diamonds._
   - _Under the shop lights, the cut pastes in the tiara sparkled like real gems._

## Verb

3. To insert text, an image, audio, video or other material that has previously been copied or cut from somewhere else.
   - Simple: To put text, pictures or other things you copied or cut before into a new place.
   - _Select the paragraph, cut it, and paste it at the end of the document._
   - _She pasted the full error message into the support form so the team could see what went wrong._
5. To fasten something with paste, or to make it stick as if with paste.
   - Simple: To stick something onto something else with paste, or as if with paste.
   - _Volunteers paste campaign flyers on lampposts all over town._
   - _The storm pasted wet leaves all over the windshield._
7. To defeat an opponent decisively or by a large margin. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To beat someone clearly or by a lot.
   - _The Hawks pasted their rivals 6–1 to clinch the division title._
   - _Every time we play chess, my little brother manages to paste me._
9. To hit or beat a person or thing. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To hit or beat someone or something.
   - _The bouncer pasted him in the jaw before he could throw a punch._
   - _Big hitters wait for a slow pitch they can paste into the bleachers._

## Noun

10. Pastry, especially the dough that forms the crust of a pie. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Pastry, for example the crust on a pie.
11. Pasta, such as macaroni or vermicelli. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Pasta, such as macaroni or thin noodles.
   - _The grocer kept macaroni, vermicelli and other Italian paste in tall glass jars._
   - _Boil the paste until tender, then toss it with butter and grated cheese._
12. Plural of pasta. *(rare)* — plural of pasta (pronounced: US say "PAH-stay" /ˈpɑsteɪ/; UK say "PAS-tay" /ˈpæsteɪ/)
   - Simple: Plural of pasta. A rare form, used for several kinds of pasta.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A substance that acts like a solid until a large enough load or stress is applied, after which it flows like a fluid.
- (noun) The mineral material that surrounds and holds other minerals embedded in it.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–6, 8, 10–11** — From Middle English paste, from Old French paste (modern pâte), from Late Latin pasta, from Ancient Greek παστά (pastá); it is a doublet of pasta. The verb comes from the noun, and Middle English also had a verb pasten ("to make a paste of; bake in a pastry"), likewise formed from the noun.
**Meanings 7, 9** — Probably an alteration of baste ("to beat"), influenced by some sense of the noun paste.
**Meaning 12** — An unadapted borrowing from Italian paste ("pastas").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/paste (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).