pap

Etymology 1

Origins unclear. Related to Middle Low German pappe, Dutch pap, German Pappe (“pap, porridge; wheatpaste; cardboard”), Old French papa/pape, Latin pappa, Bulgarian папам (papam, “to eat”) and Serbo-Croatian папати/papati (“to eat”), among others. The relationships between these words are difficult to reconstruct. The Germanic word is either a borrowing from Latin or, perhaps more probably, an independent formation in baby-talk.

noun

1. (uncountable) Food in the form of a soft paste, often a porridge, especially as given to very young children.
   Pap can be made from bread boiled in milk or water.
2. (uncountable, colloquial) Nonsense; pablum.
3. (South Africa) Porridge.
   Pap and wors are traditionally eaten at a braai.
4. (informal, derogatory) Support from official patronage.
   Treasury pap
5. The pulp of fruit.
   I hold it not amisse to take Pills in the pap of a rosted apple. 1633, James Hart, The Diet of the Diseased

verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) To feed with pap.

Etymology 2

From Middle English pappe, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Latin papilla; or perhaps compare Old Swedish papp (“breast, nipple”), from Proto-Germanic *pap- (“nipple”), of imitative origin, or from Proto-Indo-European *pap- (“pock mark, nipple”); Swedish dialectal papp, pappe, Swedish patt, Danish patte, North Frisian pap, pape, papke (“breast, pap”).

noun

1. (archaic) A female breast or nipple.
2. (now rare, archaic) A man's breast.
3. A rounded, nipple-like hill or peak.

Etymology 3

Ellipsis of Pap smear.

noun

1. Alternative letter-case form of Pap (“Pap smear”).

Etymology 4

From Afrikaans pap (“porridge”). Cognate with etymology 1.

adj

1. (South Africa, slang) Weak, feeble; lacking substance.
   His chest hangs like soft tits in his vest. He is pap. I could easily hit him. I could kill him if I wanted to. 1975, Sheila Roberts, Outside Life's Feast: Short Stories, Johannesburg: Ad. Donker, page 27
2. (South Africa, slang) Spineless, wet, without character.
   He is so pap and boring.
3. (South Africa, slang) Flat.
   I got a puncture and the wheel went pap.

Etymology 5

Clipping of paparazzo.

noun

1. (informal) Clipping of paparazzo.
   As he made his way from the London hotel to his car, the singer threatened to beat up a pap who got in his way. 2015, “Justin Bieber's top 10's worst moments”, in OK! Magazine
   We turn back onto the main road and I'm relieved to not see any paps. They've got to be somewhere though. They don't just leave. 2015, Mira Bailee, Broken Strings
   The only aspect of his mother’s death that he finds unforgettable is the identity of those who caused it: the press and the paps, variously referred to as ghouls, pustules, dogs, weasels, idiots and sadists, who after “torturing” his mother “would come for me”. 2023-01-17, Tina Brown, “Spare by Prince Harry review – magical thinking in Montecito”, in The Guardian

verb

1. (informal, usually passive) To take a surreptitious photograph of (someone, especially a celebrity) without their consent.
   Look, that pop star’s been papped in her bikini again!
   The star of Netflix’s Wednesday, 20-year-old Jenna Ortega (another Gen Z actor) was recently papped holding an iPhone and chuffing on a straight cigarette (the fact that this was a pap photo is all the more throwback). 2023-06-16, Daisy Jones, “Cool, sexy and stinking of smoke: why are TV dramas giving cigarettes a comeback?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

Etymology 6

Compare pa, papa, pop.

noun

1. (informal) Pa; father.
   Pap he hadn't been seen for more than a year, and that was comfortable for me; I didn't want to see him no more. He used to always whale me when he was sober and could get his hands on me; though I used to take to the woods most of the time when he was around. Well, about this time he was found in the river drowned, about twelve mile above town, so people said. They judged it was him, anyway; said this drowned man was just his size, and was ragged, and had uncommon long hair—which was all like pap—but they couldn't make nothing out of the face, because it had been in the water so long it warn't much like a face at all. 1884, Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Etymology 7

verb

1. (Internet slang, text messaging) Alternative letter-case form of PAP (“post a picture”).