paste

1 of 3

noun

ˈpāst 

1

a

: a dough that contains a considerable proportion of fat and is used for pastry crust or fancy rolls

b

: a confection made by evaporating fruit with sugar or by flavoring a gelatin, starch, or gum arabic preparation

c

: a smooth food product made by evaporation or grinding

tomato paste

almond paste

d

: a shaped dough (such as spaghetti or ravioli) prepared from semolina, farina, or wheat flour

2

: a soft plastic mixture or composition: such as

a

: a preparation usually of flour or starch and water used as an adhesive or a vehicle for mordant or color

b

: clay or a clay mixture used in making pottery or porcelain

3

: a brilliant glass of high lead content used for the manufacture of artificial gems

paste

2 of 3

verb (1)

pasted; pasting; pastes

transitive verb

1

: to cause to adhere by or as if by paste : stick

pasted the photos into the scrapbook

2

: to cover with something pasted on

The entire wall was pasted with posters.

3

: to put (digital data, such as text or an image) that has been copied or cut from one document or app into another part of the document or into another document or app

paste the image into an email or text

Don't copy and paste recipes out of an existing … blog or website. If you've adjusted an existing recipe, making it your own with significant modifications, be sure to give credit to the source of the original recipe.

—The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington)

paste

3 of 3

verb (2)

pasted; pasting; pastes

transitive verb

1

: to strike hard at

2

: to beat or defeat soundly

pasted their opponents 42–0

Did you know?

We're not talking about adhesives here: the paste of interest here came to be as an alteration of the word baste, which means "to beat severely or soundly." (This baste is unrelated to the two distinct baste homographs that mean "to sew with long stitches" and "to moisten while cooking.") The exact origin of baste is uncertain, but it probably comes from the Old Norse word beysta, meaning "to bruise, thrash, or flog." Baste was first seen in the 16th century, but paste didn't turn up in print until the mid-19th century, and it only recently acquired its "defeat" sense. Baste is now less popular than paste, though its relative lambaste ("to beat" or "to censure") is prevalent.

Synonyms

Verb (2)

• annihilate
• blow away
• bomb
• bury
• clobber
• cream
• drub
• dust
• flatten
• rout
• shellac
• skin
• skunk
• smoke [slang]
• smother
• snow under
• thrash
• trim
• tromp
• trounce
• wallop
• wax [slang]
• whip
• whomp
• whop
• whap
• whup

Examples of paste in a Sentence

Noun

Stir the flour and water to a paste.

The children used paste and construction paper to make Mother's Day cards.

a cake with an almond paste filling

Stir the ingredients to form a paste.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

After peeling and chopping the root, blitz it with a splash of water in a blender to make a runny paste. —Romy Gill, Saveur, 24 Apr. 2024

Whenever some paste was needed, a handful would be pulled away, soaked and strained. —Madhur Jaffrey, The New Yorker, 22 Apr. 2024

Kelly last week also vetoed a measure that would have exempted sugaring – a method of temporary hair removal using a paste made from sugar, lemon and water to pull hair out of follicles – from the definition of cosmetology. —Jenna Barackman, Kansas City Star, 15 Apr. 2024

This recipe relies on a heady blend of North African spices muddled with oil, lemon and runny honey to create a soupy, fragrant paste. —Lynda Balslev, The Mercury News, 15 Apr. 2024

For stubborn grime, create a paste by mixing baking soda and water. —Maryal Miller Carter, USA TODAY, 11 Apr. 2024

Image: Acer All of these new laptops use liquid metal between the CPU and cooling block, which is better for lowering thermal temperatures compared to traditional thermal paste. —Joanna Nelius, The Verge, 9 Apr. 2024

From a morning visit to a local market to buy the freshest vegetables and herbs to pounding green curry paste in a mortar and pestle to making mango sticky rice, my foodie family couldn’t be happier. —Tanvi Chheda, Travel + Leisure, 13 Apr. 2024

Try our lime-chipotle paste for steak that will earn rave reviews. —Karla Walsh, Better Homes & Gardens, 12 Apr. 2024

Verb

Of all the things to emulate, to copy and paste from the internet, eternal love seems like a pretty good option. —Isabelle Stillman, Los Angeles Times, 5 Apr. 2024

Open a new chat window and paste your text back in. —Jodie Cook, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024

Another cuts and pastes her face next to a noose and a smiley face. —Daniel Klaidman, CBS News, 2 Feb. 2024

Unscrupulous sellers paste the any logo on phony glasses, even if the item has not been properly tested. —Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press, 2 Apr. 2024

Posters bearing politicians’ beaming faces were hastily pasted up on roadside billboards. —Mady Camara, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2024

Against the deep black backdrops around them — the game is staged like a piece of black box theater — this lack of contrast surrounds the players with digital halos, as if they’d been awkwardly pasted into the space. —Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 20 Mar. 2024

These materials are then arranged and pasted onto a board or poster in a way that feels meaningful and inspiring to you. —Mark Travers, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024

Some may be asking: How did the police department get into the habit of pasting Lego heads — and hiding the person’s face in general — onto pictures of suspects? —Jody Serrano / Gizmodo, Quartz, 27 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin pasta dough, paste

Verb (2)

alteration of baste

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb (1)

circa 1562, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb (2)

1846, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing paste

• choux paste
• copy and paste
• cut-and-paste
• hard-paste porcelain
• library paste
• miso paste
• pre-paste
• scissors-and-paste
• soft-paste porcelain

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Kids Definition

paste

1 of 3 noun

ˈpāst 

1

a

: a dough rich in fat used for pastry

b

: a candy made by evaporating fruit with sugar or by flavoring a gelatin, starch, or gum arabic preparation

c

: a smooth food product made by evaporation or grinding

almond paste

2

: a preparation of flour or starch and water used for sticking things together

3

: a soft plastic substance or mixture

4

: a very brilliant glass used for artificial gems

paste

2 of 3 verb

pasted; pasting

1

: to stick on or together by paste

2

: to cover with something pasted on

3

: to put (something cut or copied from a computer document) into another part of the document or into another document

paste

3 of 3 verb

pasted; pasting

: to hit hard

Etymology

Noun

Middle English paste "pastry dough," from early French paste (same meaning), from Latin pasta "paste, dough"

Verb

an altered form of earlier baste "to hit, beat"

Medical Definition

paste

noun

ˈpāst 

: a soft plastic mixture or composition

especially : an external medicament that has a stiffer consistency than an ointment and is less greasy because of its higher percentage of powdered ingredients