Word of the Day
: June 14, 2011paste
playWhat It Means
1 : to strike hard at
2 : to beat or defeat soundly
paste in Context
"With two outs, two on, a 3-2 lead and a 1-2 count on light-hitting Nick Green in the seventh inning, Pavano didn't come far enough inside with a fastball and the D-Rays second baseman pasted the ball on a line toward the left-field corner." -- From a news story by Sam Borden in the New York Daily News, June 23, 2005
"Duke (32-3) traveled to Hartford on Jan. 31 and got pasted, 87-51, by the Huskies." --From an article by Arthur Staple in Newsday (Long Island, NY), March 27, 2011
Did You Know?
"Paste" came to be as an alteration of the word "baste," which means "to beat severely or soundly." 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 1846, and it only recently acquired its "defeat" sense. "Baste" is now less popular than "paste" (the two "baste" homographs that mean "to sew with long stitches" and "to moisten while cooking" are distinct terms not related to this "baste"), though its relative "lambaste" ("to beat" or "to censure") is prevalent.
Test Your Vocabulary with M-W Quizzes
Test Your Memory
What recent Word of the Day begins with "p" and means "enormous." The answer is ...
