Definition

1. Noun:

   • A soft, moist mixture: A thick, soft, and often sticky substance, typically made by mixing dry ingredients with a liquid.
   • An adhesive: A substance used for sticking objects or materials together, often made from water, flour, or starch.
   • A food spread: A smooth, creamy mixture of food, such as meat, fish, or vegetables, used as a spread or in cooking.
   • A type of glass: A hard, high-quality lead glass used to imitate gemstones in jewelry.

2. Verb:

   • To adhere with paste: To attach something to a surface using an adhesive paste.
   • To cover a surface: To apply a layer of paste over a surface.
   • (Informal) To hit forcefully: To strike someone or something hard.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:

  • She made a delicious almond paste for the cake.
  • You'll need wallpaper paste to hang this paper.
  • The necklace was made with high-quality paste to mimic diamonds.

• Verb:

  • Please paste the poster onto the board.
  • He decided to paste the wall with old newspapers.
  • (Informal) The boxer pasted his rival with a powerful left hook.

Advanced Usage

• "to paste over": To cover a surface completely by applying paste and another material.

  • They decided to paste over the old graffiti with new posters.

• In computing: To insert previously copied text or data into a document.

  • The command to paste the text is Ctrl+V.

Variants and Related Words

• Pasty (adj): Having a thick, soft consistency like paste.

  • The mixture became pasty after adding too much flour.

• Paste-up (n): A document prepared for printing by pasting text and graphics onto a sheet.

  • The designer created a paste-up of the magazine layout.

Synonyms

• Noun (Adhesive): Glue, adhesive, mucilage.
• Noun (Food): Spread, purée, pâté.
• Verb (Adhere): Glue, stick, affix.
• Verb (Hit): Smack, wallop, punch.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Paste on: To apply paste and attach something, often implying a quick or temporary action.

  • He pasted on a fake mustache for the costume party.

• Paste together: To join multiple pieces or components using paste.

  • The children pasted together a collage from magazine clippings.

Related Idioms

• Cut and paste: Literally, to remove and then reattach with adhesive. Figuratively, to assemble something from existing parts, often without original thought.

  • His report was just a cut and paste job from various websites.

• Pasteboard (n, historical/related term): A stiff material made by pasting together sheets of paper.

  • Old playing cards were often made from pasteboard.

Noun

1. a tasty mixture to be spread on bread or crackers or used in preparing other dishes
2. an adhesive made from water and flour or starch; used on paper and paperboard
3. a hard, brilliant lead glass that is used in making artificial jewelry
4. any mixture of a soft and malleable consistency

Verb

1. cover the surface of
   • paste the wall with burlap
2. hit with the fists
   • He pasted his opponent
3. join or attach with or as if with glue
   • paste the sign on the wall
   • cut and paste the sentence in the text