paper
Part of speech: adj
verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Middle English paper, from Anglo-Norman paper, from Old Catalan paper, borrowed from Latin papȳrus (and given the Catalan suffix -er), from Ancient Greek πάπυρος (pápuros).
Inflected forms:
form: papers
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: papering
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: papered
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: papered
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: Made of paper.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: At twilight in the summer[…]the mice come out. They[…]eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly[…]on the floor.
gloss: Insubstantial (from the weakness of common paper)
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: paper gangster
2016: Manila Standard, "Speed limiter law: A paper tiger"; Maricel Cruz
Speed limiter law: A paper tiger
2016: The Australian, "China says Australia ‘is no paper tiger, only a paper cat at best’"; Rowan Callick
It concluded that Australia was “not even a paper tiger, it’s only a paper cat at best”
gloss: Planned (from plans being drawn up on paper)
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: paper engine, rocket
"We have to be able to demonstrate that it is not just a paper engine but a real engine" and that development work has "mitigated all the risk".
2015: CBS News, "ULA unveils new rocket to replace Russian boosters"; William Harwood
In a background teleconference hosted by SpaceX late last week, an unnamed official dismissed ULA's new booster as a "paper rocket," saying he doubted it would be significantly cheaper than ULA's current stable of launchers.
2010: BBC News, "Pratt & Whitney eyes global plane engine deals"; Jorn Madslien
Ours is not a paper engine... these are real engines that are in production today
"The Ares 1 is a paper rocket that's far off in the future," Musk said. "Falcon 9 is a real rocket, most of which is at Cape Canaveral right now."
gloss: Having a title that is merely official, or given by courtesy or convention.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: a paper lord
gloss: To apply paper to.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to paper the hallway walls
gloss: To document; to memorialize.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: After they reached an agreement, their staffs papered it up.
gloss: To fill (a theatre or other paid event) with complimentary seats.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Later, seat-filling or “papering” services cropped up, with organizations like Audience Extras, Play-by-Play,[…]
gloss: To submit official papers to (a law court, etc.).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: As powerhouse lawyers shuttled to Cuba to meet clients and papered the federal courts with habeas corpus petitions, Guantanamo's isolation and lack of publicity, once the military's most powerful psychological weapon, was eliminated.
[…] the warning received only six weeks later for poor attendance as proof that the employer was unjustly papering his personnel file in an effort to create a reason for discharge.
gloss: To give public notice (typically by displaying posters) that a person is wanted by the police or other authority.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To sandpaper.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To enfold in paper.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To paste the endpapers and flyleaves at the beginning and end of a book before fitting it into its covers.
pos: verb
gloss: To cover someone's house with toilet paper. Otherwise known as toilet papering or TPing.
pos: verb
tags: Northeastern
US
Related words: paper over
Derived words: paper tiger
Translations: