paste

Etymology 1

From Middle English paste, from Old French paste (modern pâte), from Late Latin pasta, from Ancient Greek παστά (pastá). Doublet of pasta and patty.

noun

1. A soft moist mixture, in particular:
   1. One of flour, fat, or similar ingredients used in making pastry.
   2. (obsolete) Pastry.
      And that day month, he had the paste rolled out, and cut the fair twin's head off, and chopped her in pieces, and peppered her, and salted her, and put her in the pie, and sent it to the baker's, and ate it all, and picked the bones. 1860, Charles Dickens, Captain Murderer
   3. One of pounded foods, such as fish paste, liver paste, or tomato paste.
   4. One used as an adhesive, especially for putting up wallpapers, etc.
2. (physics) A substance that behaves as a solid until a sufficiently large load or stress is applied, at which point it flows like a fluid
3. A hard lead-containing glass, or an artificial gemstone made from this glass.
   Yesterday I bought some paste, which is a nickname for fake diamonds, and they were from Bergdorf’s. 2023-03-10, Alex Vadukul, quoting Nan Goldin, “Nan Goldin Is Ready for Oscar Night”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
4. (obsolete) Pasta.
   This is likewise the market for their oil, and the paste called macaroni, of which they make a good quantity. 1766, Tobias George Smollett, Travels through France and Italy: Containing observations on character, customs, religion, government, police, commerce, arts, and antiquities. With a particular description of the town, territory, and climate of Nice. To which is added, A register of the weather, kept during a residence of eighteen months in that city, Volume 2 (travel), page 35
   Vermicelli for soups, is paste from Italy; so called because it looks like worms. My macaroni, paste from Italy—My salop, a root ground to powder—the root of one kind of orchis. 1792, Arnaud Berquin, The childrens' companion: or, entertaining instructor for the youth of both sexes; designed, to excite attention and inculcate virtue. Selected from the works of Berquin, Genlis, Day, and others&source=gbs_navlinks_s), page 75
5. (mineralogy) The mineral substance in which other minerals are embedded.

verb

1. (transitive) To stick with paste; to cause to adhere by or as if by paste.
2. (transitive, computing) To insert a piece of media (e.g. text, picture, audio, video) previously copied or cut from somewhere else.
3. (transitive, slang) To strike or beat someone or something.
   He got up and pasted Byfield in the mouth. 1943, William Saroyan, The Human Comedy, chapter 23
4. (transitive, slang) To defeat decisively or by a large margin.

Etymology 2

Unadapted borrowing from Italian paste (“pastas”).

noun

1. (rare) plural of pasta