paste

1 of 3

noun

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.

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
Happily, jars of high-quality pistachio paste are available online. Melissa Clark, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Mar. 2024 More specifically, it’s generally recommended to mix a bit of alum powder with a drop or two of water until a paste forms, apply it to your sore for a few minutes, then rinse thoroughly with water. Jenna Ryu, SELF, 18 Mar. 2024 Tahira Ehsan does about half the prep and cooking — hand grinding the spices, sweating down the alliums and mashing them into an onion paste — at her home. Travis M. Andrews, Washington Post, 12 Mar. 2024 Gorgeous acidity and elegant tannins support flavors of raspberry, cranberry, dark chocolate, olive paste, crumbled sage, anisette, and a touch of rose petal. Mike Desimone and Jeff Jenssen, Robb Report, 5 Mar. 2024 Researchers say that a small vial of deep red paste found in Iran’s Jiroft region is likely an ancient tube of lipstick. Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Feb. 2024 While the mushrooms are cooking, place the miso paste, butter and garlic into a small bowl and, using the back of a fork, mash everything together. Emily Weinstein, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Mar. 2024 Add the tomato paste and stir for about 30 seconds to take the raw edge off. Lynda Balslev, The Mercury News, 4 Mar. 2024 Leave a comment View Comments ¼ teaspoon mustard powder 1 tablespoon white miso paste 2 tablespoons sesame oil Instructions 1. Adrienne Cheatham, CNN, 3 Mar. 2024
Verb
Copilot will also be augmented with voice shortcuts, which will support things like pasting text and media, pressing keys, clicking the mouse, as well as opening folders, files, apps, and URLs. Michael Muchmore, PCMAG, 21 Mar. 2024 Those videos and images are copied, pasted, and widely broadcast across the world, giving further fuel to Israel’s opponents, embarrassing Israel’s few remaining allies, and leaving Israel ever more isolated internationally. Andrew Exum, The Atlantic, 18 Mar. 2024 If nothing seems to happen, the screen capture has been copied to the clipboard and needs to be pasted into a program that works with images, such as Paint or Word. Ken Colburn, The Arizona Republic, 29 Jan. 2024 Copy and paste is your friend, and there's no problem with pasting in text from other sources. David Nield, WIRED, 22 Feb. 2024 Late that night, Weschler pasted his fresh photos into a notebook. Brian McCollum, Detroit Free Press, 8 Feb. 2024 Not everyone is ging to have the same grandma, mother, or ancestry that pasted the recipes down, so there will never be one alike, all are different like each one of us are different. Southern Living Test Kitchen, Southern Living, 30 Dec. 2023 The two would be arrested in Brazil in January 2000 amid an international manhunt with wanted posters pasted all around Mexico. Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 28 Dec. 2023 Manually copying credentials from a password manager and pasting them into an app will prevent AutoSpill attacks that don't use JavaScript injection. Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 13 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'paste.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of paste was in the 14th century

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Dictionary Entries Near paste

Cite this Entry

“Paste.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paste. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

paste

1 of 3 noun
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
: 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

More from Merriam-Webster on paste

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