ˈcardboard
[f. card n.2 + board.]
a. Pasteboard of the thickness of card, for cutting cards from, or for making boxes and the like. Also attrib. in cardboard box, etc.
| 1848 A. Brontë Tenant of Wildfell Hall I. xviii. 325 The pencil..leaves an impression upon card-board that no amount of rubbing can efface. 1858 in Simmonds. 1863 Wynter Subtle Brains 309 The rooms in which the portraits are gummed on cardboard and packed up. 1879 Print. Trades Jrnl. xxviii. 16 They are printed on stout, fine cardboard. |
b. fig. (attrib. or as adj.). Unsubstantial, unreal, ‘pasteboard’.
| 1893 Jrnl. Soc. Arts XLI. 476/1 When his cardboard empire of the East fell to pieces. 1927 J. Deval (title) Her Cardboard Lover. 1952 Illustrated 6 Dec. 8 The cardboard family that has become larger than life. |