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

For more than half his life, shop owner Francisco Rodríguez has been bringing to life super heroes, dinosaurs, sea creatures and other animals with strips of old newspaper and a simple paste of flour and water. —Susan Montoya Bryan, BostonGlobe.com, 9 Sep. 2023

For especially tough messes on a stovetop, Buchanan suggests scrubbing with a paste of equal parts Bar Keepers Friend and dish soap. —Hannah Holland, Anchorage Daily News, 3 Sep. 2023

The gel and paste are more concentrated in color and less likely to alter the consistency of your frosting or fondant than the liquid food coloring. —Micah A Leal, Southern Living, 29 Aug. 2023

Add tomato paste and stir well, cooking for 1 minute. —cleveland, 29 Aug. 2023

If desired, divide icing into individual bowls and tint with paste food coloring. —Bhg Test Kitchen, Better Homes & Gardens, 17 Aug. 2023

Allow the paste to sit and penetrate the grout for at least 10 to 15 minutes; longer is fine too. —Alyssa Longobucco, House Beautiful, 16 Aug. 2023

The proliferation of free AI means students won’t have to think much while writing – just engage in a high level of copy and paste. —Asim Ali, The Conversation, 4 Sep. 2023

Blend 1 cup fresh herbs and 3 tablespoons oil in a food processor to form a thick paste. —Lisa Cericola, Southern Living, 21 Aug. 2023

Verb

The orange set of legends are for shortcuts tied to the Control key (think Control+C to copy and Control+V to paste). —PCMAG, 15 Sep. 2023

After pasting the story, Magic Notes generated a bullet-point summary of the article’s main ideas. —Emilia David, The Verge, 9 Aug. 2023

On the front of the card, write your guest's name in calligraphy, and paste the cluster of yarrow next to it. —Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 4 Sep. 2023

The company brought PowerToys back from the dead in 2019 and open-sourced it on GitHub; other tools for the suite include toggles for small-yet-useful features like plaintext pasting or the ability to keep an app always on top. —Wes Davis, The Verge, 2 Sep. 2023

When Morris picked the car up, the check engine light, blessedly, was off and there was a valid inspection sticker pasted on the windshield. —Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 22 Aug. 2023

Their Instagram accounts offer templates of letters addressed to Capitol Records for fans to copy and paste, add their signature, and mail off to the label. —Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 17 Aug. 2023

The solution is to do everything digitally, scribbling your signature with your finger, a stylus, or a mouse cursor, and pasting it on the PDF. —David Nield, Popular Science, 16 Aug. 2023

Actually, his various friends and assistants wrote the article in scraps and pieces, pasted it together, and Warhol went over the whole things, scratching out a deletion or adding a sentence here and there. —Stephen Birmingham, Town & Country, 10 Aug. 2023

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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

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

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

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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