paste

 
Pronunciation: /peɪst/

noun

[mass noun]
  • a thick, soft, moist substance typically produced by mixing dry ingredients with a liquid: blend onions, sugar, and oil to a paste
  • a paste used as an adhesive, especially for sticking paper: wallpaper paste
  • a savoury spread: salmon paste
  • a mixture consisting mainly of clay and water that is used in making ceramic ware, especially a mixture of low plasticity based on kaolin for making porcelain.
  • a hard vitreous composition used in making imitation gems: [as modifier]: paste brooches

verb

[with object]
  • 1coat with paste: when coating walls with fabric, paste the wall, not the fabric
  • [with object and adverbial of place] fasten or stick (something) with paste: the posters were pasted up on to street noticeboards
  • Computing insert (a piece of text or other data copied from elsewhere).
  • 2 informal beat or defeat severely: he pasted the guy and tied his ankles together

Origin:

late Middle English: from Old French, from late Latin pasta 'medicinal preparation in the shape of a small square', probably from Greek pastē, (plural) pasta 'barley porridge', from pastos 'sprinkled'