paper

▪ I. paper, n.
    (ˈpeɪpə(r))
    Also 4 papure, 4–6 papir, 5 papire, papyre, (paupire, 5–6 pauper), 5–7 papyr, 6 papre.
    [a. AF. papir = OF. papier (= Pr. papier, Cat. paper, Sp. papel ‘paper’, It. papiro papyrus), ad. L. papȳrus the papyrus or paper-reed of the Nile, also writing-material made of it, a. Gr. πάπῡρος the papyrus-reed. From the writing-sheets made of the thin strips of papyrus the name was transferred to paper made of cotton, and thence to paper of linen and other fibres. These extensions took place before the word became English, so that here its application to papyrus is only a later retrospective use.]
    I. The simple word.
    * Without a or pl. (exc. as denoting a particular kind).
    1. a. A substance composed of fibres interlaced into a compact web, made (usually in the form of a thin flexible sheet, most commonly white) from various fibrous materials, as linen and cotton rags, straw, wood, certain grasses, etc., which are macerated into a pulp, dried, and pressed (and subjected to various other processes, as bleaching, colouring, sizing, etc., according to the intended use); it is used (in various forms and qualities) for writing, printing, or drawing on, for wrapping things in, for covering the interior of walls, and for other purposes.

1341–2 in Ely Sacr. Rolls, papyr. 1359–60 Ibid., paper. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 802 So mony pynakle payntet watz poudred ay quere,..Þat pared out of papure purely hit semed. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 1597 Youre lettres ful þe papir al y-pleynted Conseyued hath myn hertes pite. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xxii. 239 He maketh no Money, but of Lether emprented, or of Papyre [Roxb. papire]. 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 42 A book of papyr to wryte in expensis. a 1529 Skelton Poems agst. Garnesche Wks. 1843 I. 131 A reme of papyr wyll nat holde [all]. 1548 Privy Council Acts (1890) II. 179 To the Clerkes of the Counsaile for paper, pens and ink. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa 24 All their books..are written in parchment, for paper they haue none. 1712 Act 10 Anne c. 18. §44 Paper..printed painted or stained..to serve for Hangings. a 1716 South Serm. IV. x. 440 He sells his Soul with it, like brown Paper, into the Bargain. 1730 Fielding Author's Farce ii. v, A good handsome large volume,..printed on a good paper and letter. 1887 Pall Mall G. 21 Sept. 12/1 A growing tree is now often cut down, made into paper, and turned out as a newspaper in thirty-six hours.

    b. Also applied to other substances used for writing upon, of similar consistence but differently made, as the papyrus of the ancients; or to substances of similar texture, as that made by wasps for their nests (see paper-wasp in 12).

1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxxvi. (Bodl. MS.), Of þese russchis..þei makeþ & weueþ botes and seiles,..& also þei makeþ þerof papir to write in. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 506 Of the pith or heart of the tree, is made paper for bookes. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 102 The sedgie reeds,..called formerly Papyri, of which they made paper; and whereof ours made of rags, assumeth that name. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 105/1 This [ligneous] fibre..is made into a paper, of which are constructed the combs [of a wasps' nest].

    c. Applied familiarly to substances made from paper-pulp, used in the industrial arts, such as mill-board, papier mâché, slabs prepared for use in roofing, building, and other purposes.

c 1670 Boyle Uses Nat. Things iv. Wks. 1772 III. 485 Though paper be one of the commonest bodies that we use, yet there are very few that imagine..that frames for pictures and divers fine pieces of embossed work, with other curious moveables, may..be made of it. 1778 Tour thro' Gt. Brit., Birmingham, Mr. Clay's manufactory for japanning, &c., making paper cases, stands, waiters, tea-boards, coach-pannels, &c., all of paper, finely varnished, and painted. 1897 Baden-Powell Matabele Campaign ii. 25 [Buluwayo] well filled with buildings, all single-storeyed, some brick, some tin, some ‘paper’ (i.e. wire-wove, ready⁓made in England, sent out in pieces), all with verandahs. Ibid. iii. 80 These ‘paper’ houses are common in Buluwayo—they are really wire-wove, with wooden frames, iron roofs, cardboard walls.

    d. In various phrases and connexions, with allusion to writing or drawing; as to commit to paper, to write down. to put pen to paper, to commence writing, to write. on paper: in writing, in print; said esp. of something described or represented in a preliminary sketch or plan, in contrast to the reality; hence = in theory, theoretically. paper-and-pencil (attrib.): executed in writing, carried out with paper and pencil.

1582 Stanyhurst æneis, etc. (Arb.) 139 But shal I looue the lady, so as Petrarck Laura regarded? In paper her dandling? her person neauer atayning? 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iv. 161 All those..are rather things in words and paper then in effect. c 1654 D. Osborne Lett. (1903) 146 The fellow thought that putting ‘pen to paper’ was much better than plain ‘writing’. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 10 June i, A man may be very entertaining and instructive upon paper..and exceedingly dull in common discourse. 1788 Amer. Museum III. 336/2 The form of their constitution, as it is on paper, admits not of coercion. But necessity introduced it in practice. 1795 Washington Lett. Writ. 1892 XIII. 64 All this looks very well on paper; but [etc.]. 1865 L. Carroll Alice's Adv. Wonderl. vi. 122 Humpty Dumpty looked doubtful. ‘I'd rather see that done on paper’, he said. 1888 Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men I. iii. 296 The intention..of committing to paper some recollections of the holy man. 1948 [see conniption]. 1965 N. Chomsky Aspects of Theory of Syntax i. 10 Let us use the term ‘acceptable’ to refer to utterances that are..comprehensible without paper-and-pencil analysis. 1971 Jrnl. Gen. Psychol. Oct. 308 The five measures described here—three paper-and-pencil inventories and two visual tasks—all appear to be concerned with a central phenomenon, that of the individual's need to maintain an optimal level of stimulus input or variability. 1972 Jrnl. Social Psychol. LXXXVII. 156 Test anxiety scales are typically self-report, paper-and-pencil measures. 1973 Jrnl. Genetic Psychol. Sept. 35 The measure of approach was a paper and pencil measure. 1973 D. Westheimer Going Public i. 19 For every point it goes up you've made yourselves a hundred twenty seven thou five hundred dollars. On paper. I must warn you that paper profits are often illusory. 1976 Verbatim Sept. 5/2 Six nifty paper-and-pencil games. 1977 World of Cricket Monthly June 82/3 On paper, Hampshire looked a short⁓odds bet for any of the one-day competitions.

    2. Paper bearing writing; written documents collectively.

1386 Chaucer Cook's T. 40 Vp on a day whan he his papir soghte, that [etc.]. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xiv. 38 The marchante mote nede be lette lengere þen þe messagere; For þe parcels of hus paper and oþer pryuey dettes Wol lette hym, as ich leyue.

1966 Rep. Comm. Inquiry Univ. Oxf. I. 241 Upon this depends the ability of the Vice-Chancellor to make himself felt, his capacity to think ahead and to give a lead without having continually to submerge himself in paper. Ibid. 253 Only thus can it [sc. the General Board] see over the top of the piles of paper and look at those general topics..which ought to be its principal concern. 1977 D. Aitkin Second Chair ii. 19 Watch out that you don't get smothered in paper. That foxy little friend of ours wants you to do all his hackwork while he..thinks great thoughts.

    3. Comm. a. Negotiable documents, bills of exchange, etc. collectively. b. Paper money or currency as opposed to coin, bank-notes, etc.

a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. xvi. §241 The custom..being to make their payments in Paper by Assignations. c 1722 Ld. Mar Legacy to Scotl. (1896) 201 The paper could not exceed more than a certain quantity..in proportion to the specie in the nation. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v., I have no money to give you, but only Paper; Paper indeed as good as ready money. 1728 Swift Answ. Memor. Wks. 1755 V. ii. 173 Will foreigners take our bankers paper? 1775 R. Montgomery in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) I. 491 It will be necessary to send hard money here..as paper will not yet go down. 1824 Byron Juan xvi. xxii, But rarely seen, like gold compared with paper. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis II. xxvi. 259 It was whispered among the tradesmen, bill-discounters, and others..that the Captain's ‘paper’ was henceforth of no value. 1883 Manch. Exam. 14 Dec. 4/1 For three months' bills the terms were..25/8 per cent., but for January paper the rate was stiffer. a 1904 Mod. The bankers will not look at his paper. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 20 Oct. 12/2 Without..feeling—as he puts it—that he is ‘a pawn with a breech-loader on an open-air chess⁓board, to be moved at the bidding of a despotic keeper who only takes paper’. 1925 [see hot a. 7 e]. 1930 Liberty 5 July 23/2 Next day the news cracks about a twenty-grand payroll robbery at the factory in Sheffield. Bob comes in at night loaded with paper and gives me five hundred bucks of it. 1937 E. Snow Red Star over China vi. iv. 234 Only Soviet paper was in use, except in the border counties, where White paper was also accepted. 1949 J. Cary Fearful Joy 255 Now they've got some loose paper they're going to make it float. 1969 Times 26 Mar. 28/8 A ‘proper’ level for three-month paper is thougth to be about 83/8 per cent compared with a frequently quoted level of between 93/16 and 87/8 per cent. 1977 Law Rep. 5 July 620 The bank..also bought them, in the recognised international market in what was called ‘medium-term paper’.

    4. slang. a. Free passes of admission to a theatre or other entertainment; transf. persons admitted by free passes.

1785 Apol. Life G. A. Bellamy (ed. 2) II. xliii. 114 The piece [sc. Romeo and Juliet at Drury Lane and Covent Garden] was performed so many nights, that the public as well as the performers were tired and disgusted with it. We, [at Drury Lane] however, got the advantage of some nights. But this was not done without a great deal of paper, which was bestowed upon the occasion. 1820 C. Mathews Let. in A. Mathews Mem. Charles Mathews (1839) III. 165 He had spoken to the cash-taker of the rooms, who said, this is all the money (not much), and there's plenty of paper. 1825 P. Egan Life of Actor iv. 144 ‘Theatrical paper’ has been frequently known to silence many a harsh tongue; and also to change the looks of an angry creditor. 1873 Routledge's Yng. Gentl. Mag. Apr. 277/1 The house is filling well without the aid of paper or free tickets. 1885 St. James's Gaz. 30 Jan., Another point; I mean the distribution of ‘paper’, or free admissions. 1888 Pall Mall G. 19 May 4/2 How much paper there was in St. James's Hall yesterday we do not know, but the hall, in any case, must have been remuneratively full. 1927 Vanity Fair XXIX. 132/3 ‘Paper’ is a pass. 1951 ‘J. Tey’ Daughter of Time ii. 21 Johnny Garson can tell you how much paper there is in the house what time he is sobbing his heart out.

    b. U.S. Marked cards for sharpers.

1894 Maskelyne Sharps & Flats 43 In America..one may still find ‘saloons’ which are stocked entirely with this kind of ‘paper’ as the cards are called. 1929 M. A. Gill Underworld Slang 9/2 Paper, marked playing cards. 1938 H. Asbury Sucker's Progress 37 In the early days of Poker the marked cards used by sharpers were prepared beforehand by the gamblers themselves, and were known as ‘paper’; or were marked during the process of the game with the finger nail or a needle point embedded in a ring.

    c. U.S. A forged cheque or document.

1850 [see kite-flying vbl. n. 2]. 1925 Flynn's 7 Mar. 191/2 Paper,..forged notes or checks. 1930 Liberty 19 July 27/1, I turn out bills of sale by the dozen. I don't like to do it as it is not playing square with my dealers. They don't know they're getting worthless papers.

    d. U.S. Posters or similar publicity material. Also individual singular: a poster or placard.

1878 Harper's Mag. Mar. 599/2 Struggling families who have ‘one room to let’, or..a modest paper in a window ‘Borders wanted’. 1896 N.Y. Dramatic News 18 July 12/1 Car No. 6..was here July 7–8, posting very attractive paper, which reads ‘coming soon’. 1903 W. C. Thompson On Road with Circus i. 23 The posters and lithographs sent out in advance are ‘paper’. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §571/6 Paper, posters.

    † 5. herb paper, water paper: suggested names for the papyrus plant. Obs.

1548 Turner Names of Herbes, Papyros... It maye be called in englishe water paper, or herbe paper.

    ** Individual singular with a, and plural.
    (The earliest sense here is 7, the papers which first attained to individual distinction being written documents. In 6 also, the specialized b. naturally took precedence of the general sense.)
    6. a. A piece, sheet, or leaf of paper.

1628 Earle Microcosm., A Childe, His Soule is yet a white paper vnscribled with obseruations of the world. 1634 J. Bate Myst. Nat. & Art 30 Straine it through a browne paper rowled within a tunnel. 1718 M. Eales Receipt 5 Let 'em stand all Night in the Pan they are boil'd in, with a Paper laid close to 'em. 1833 J. H. Newman Arians i. iii. (1876) 85 The mind is often compared to a tablet or paper... But, in truth, the mind can never resemble a blank paper. 1875 H. C. Wood Therap. (1879) 19 Papers are medicated leaves or sheets of paper for external use.

    b. A piece of paper serving as a wrapper or receptacle; often including the contents, a packet done up in paper, a small paper parcel; a paperful; a sheet or card of paper containing pins or needles stuck in it.

1511 Sir R. Guylforde Pilgr. (Camden) 39 The warden..toke a basyn full of folden papres with relyquis in eche of them. 1567 in Hay Fleming Mary Q. of Scots (1897) 508 Item xxiiij papir of prenis to the Quenis dule. 1662 J. Davies tr. Mandelslo's Trav. 227 A paper of Fruits and Conserves for the Desert. 1698 A. Brand Emb. Muscovy to China 82 Two Papers of Thee. a 1776 R. James Diss. Fevers (1778) 48, I gave him half a paper more of the Powder. 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz I. 229 A little basket which..contains a small black bottle and a paper of sandwiches. 1844 ― Mart. Chuz. xix, Give me the paper of gloves. 1901 Academy 17 Aug. 138/1, ‘I want a paper of pins’.

    c. A curl-paper. (Usually in pl.)

a 1746 M. Leapor Poems (1748) I. 5 Let Isabel unload her aking Head Of twisted Papers, and of binding Lead. 1772 J. Woodforde Diary 21 Apr. (1924) I. 114 We..caught my Sister Jane at table with her hair up in papers. 1819 Keats Let. 16 Apr. (1958) II. 92 Do you put your hair in papers of a night? 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. (1839) vii. 60 The lady..was dressed in a dimity night jacket with her hair in papers. 1876 M. E. Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. ix. 122 Take their hair out of papers.

    d. U.S. A playing card. (Cf. sense 4 b).

1842 Southern Lit. Messenger VIII. 412/1, I found myself..around a table in a corner, and the ‘papers’ in motion. 1862 O. W. Norton Army Lett. (1903) 41 Those whose taste inclines them that way are playing with the ‘spotted papers’. 1935 A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 86/1 Papers, playing cards.

    7. a. A sheet, leaf, or piece of paper, bearing writing; a document written or printed on paper, as a note, bill, or other legal instrument; in pl. written notes, memoranda, letters, official documents, etc. With quot. c 1475 cf. F. être sur les papiers de quelqu'un, to be in his books, in his debt. † papers of concern: cf. F. papiers de conséquence, papiers d'affaires.

[1364–5 Rolls of Parlt. II. 287/1 Surmettantz a eux qe sont Dettours, & ce voillent ils prover par lour papirs.] 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 5 To kepe wel & trewely alle þe pointz of þis papir. c 1475 Partenay 4735 Now full merily demene you amonge, For of his paupires strike oute plain be ye! 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. xii. 25 Which he disclosing read thus, as the paper spake. 1682 Bunyan Holy War 203 His name is Pitiless; so he has writ himself in all papers of concern, wherein he has had to do. 1706 Mrs. Ray in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 208 As to my husband's papers I have put them all..into Mr. Dale's hands. 1750 Gray Long Story 66 Papers and books a huge Imbroglio! 1824 J. Johnson Typogr. II. xvi. 573 Papers printed by authority of either House of Parliament. 1861 C. Knight Pop. Hist. Eng. VII. xxvi. 453 Mr. James Paull..moved for papers, upon which he proposed to ground grave charges against the late governor-general. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 99 From a state paper of the Doge Moncenigo we learn some particulars of the trade with Italy. 1902 Besant Five Yrs. Tryst 29 ‘You've signed some paper or other, of course?’ ‘I've signed a dozen papers’. Mod. The honourable gentleman concluded his speech by moving for papers. The Prime Minister promised that papers should be laid on the table of the House.

    † b. A note, fastened on the back of a criminal undergoing punishment, specifying his offence. Obs.

a 1529 Skelton Sp. Parrot 472 So myche papers weryng for ryghte a smalle ex[c]esse. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 59 He so punyshed periurye with open punyshment & open papers werynge, that in his tyme it was lesse vsed. 1577 J. Knewstub Confut. (1579) 82 b, Allegories, which are H.N. his best witnesses: be as those men who haue heretofore worne papers. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 47 Why he comes in like a periure, wearing papers. 1593 ― 2 Hen. VI, ii. iv. 31 Led along, Mayl'd vp in shame, with Papers on my back, And follow'd with a Rabble. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 310/1 To stand on the Pillory..with Papers of his Offence set on his Back.

    † c. pl. = state-papers, as in Office of His (Her) Majesty's Papers, Clerk, Keeper, Register of the Papers; cf. also paper-office a. Obs.
    Cf. ‘Calendar of Documents relating to the History of the State Paper Office’ in 30th Rep. Dep. Kpr. App. pp. 212–293. The ‘Office of Her Majesty's Papers and Records for Business of State and Council’ was established in 1578. About 1800 the terms ‘papers of state’, ‘paper-office’ etc. became superseded by those of ‘State papers’, ‘State paper office’ etc.

1612 in 30th Rep. Dep. Kpr. App. 225 The Othe of the Clerke of the Papers for matters of State. 1612 Indorsement ibid., A Register of the later Bookes and Papers of English business..delivered into the Office of the Papers at Whitehall, at the death of the Earle of Salisbury, late Lord Treasurer. 1629 Sir T. Wilson Petition ibid. 239 Clerk, Keeper and Register of Your Majesty's Papers and Records for business of State and Council. ? 1782 Ibid. 270 To preserve the Papers of State for the use of the public. 1799 Ibid. 287 The King's papers require an arrangement applicable to the dispatch of business.

    d. pl. The collection of documents which establish the identity, standing, etc., of an envoy, traveller, or other person; the certificates which accompany an officer's application for permission to resign; hence to send in one's papers, to resign; (ship's papers) the set of documents carried by a ship for the manifestation of her ownership, nationality, destination, etc.

1685–8 in Black Bk. Admiralty (1871) I. 29 To examine them well about their ladeing and likewise their papers and documents. 1794 in Story's Pract. Prize Courts (1854) 4 Every ship must be provided with complete and genuine papers. Ibid., If there be false or colourable papers; if any papers be thrown overboard;..if proper ship's papers are not on board. 1796 Pitt Let. 2 Nov., I accompanied your memorial with all your papers. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xx. IV. 473 A fine ship named the Redbridge... Her papers had been made out for Alicant. 1872 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. Apr. 302/1, I sent in my papers, packed up my traps, and here I am. 1890 W. E. Norris Misadventure xvi, He wished him..to send in his papers before his marriage. 1914 E. A. Powell Fighting in Flanders ii. 45 One never stirred out of doors in Antwerp without one's papers, which had to be shown before one could gain admission to the post office..or any other public buildings. 1960 O. Manning Great Fortune ii. 142 Recalled to his regiment. His papers came yesterday and off he had to go. 1960 Victorian Studies June 326 Those, like Captain Gadsby..in the end sent in their papers for the sake of their wife and family. 1963 R. D. Symons Many Trails xi. 110 The great steam-engine..was attended by a proper steam engineer, with ‘papers’. 1966 Listener 24 Feb. 267/2 The Moscovite lives by the rules. ‘Without {oqq}papers{cqq} a man is nothing,’ my exasperated interpreter once asserted. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 29/2 (Advt.), Applicant must possess thorough knowledge of hot water heating systems and preferably possess engineers papers. 1977 H. Kaplan Damascus Cover xiv. 140 Some [Nazis]..proceeded to Rome and Geneva where clandestine processing stations..supplied them with the papers necessary for travel to the Middle East.

    e. A set of questions in an examination, usually written or printed on one sheet; also, the written answers to such a set of questions.

1838 Arnold in Stanley Life (1844) II. 114 The recommendation of the Vice-Chancellor, that the Examinations should be conducted entirely through the medium of printed papers. Ibid., We..know the value of printed papers, and we know also the advantages to be derived from a vivâ voce examination. 1852 Bristed 5 Years in Eng. Univ. I. 186 Our best classic had not time to floor the paper. 1859 Farrar Julian Home xi. 131 The papers suited him excellently. 1861 M. Burrows Pass & Class (1866) 21 The Pass papers occupy one day, the Class papers from four to five. Mod. I was busy correcting examination papers.

    8. a. = newspaper, journal. pl. The publicity afforded by the newspapers; esp. in phr. to make the papers: to gain publicity.

1642 Prince Rupert Declaration 3 Those impudent unpunished papers cried daily in the streets. 1716 Addison Freeholder No. 19 ¶4 The Examiner was a Paper in the last Reign. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v., We have daily Papers, weekly Papers, morning Papers, evening Papers..political Papers, literary Papers, Papers of entertainment, etc. 1810 Lamb Let. to Manning 2 Jan., Coleridge is bringing out a paper in Weekly Numbers, called the Friend. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xix, She entered the room where St. Clare lay reading his paper. 1883 Stevenson Silverado Sq. 14 The office of the local paper (for the place has a paper—they all have papers). 1963 ‘A. Gilbert’ Ring for Noose viii. 97 At all events he hadn't made the morning papers. 1967 Wodehouse Company for Henry iii. 47 One of these days that woman is going to get herself Into The Papers. 1972 Village Voice (N.Y.) 1 June 16/2 Through many lonely months McGovern had trouble making the papers.

    b. = wall-paper.

1764 in E. Singleton Social N.Y. under Georges (1902) 43 The Dining-Room is 14 × 19, hung with genteel Paper; the Entry or Passage from the Door, is hung with the same. 1830 M. Edgeworth Let. 17 Nov. (1971) 430 When I went down to the library..I was charmed even with the fuschia⁓trellis looking paper. 1873 C. M. Yonge Pillars of House II. xiv. 53 What our paper may have been in its earlier stages of existence I am not prepared to say; but since I can remember..the wall presented every nuance of purplish salmon. 1945 Catal. Exhib. Eng. & Hist. Wallpapers (Central Inst. Art & Design) 6 The most beautiful of all..are the hand-painted Chinese papers. 1967 Wodehouse Company for Henry iv. 57 His spiritual home would have been some such establishment as Edgar Allen Poe's House of Usher, into which he would have fitted like the paper on the wall. 1975 ‘A. Hall’ Mandarin Cypher vii. 104 We had all the paper off the wall at the Hong Kong Cathay [Hotel].

    9. A written or printed essay, dissertation, or article on some particular topic. Now esp. A communication read or sent to a learned society.

1669 W. Holder Elem. Speech 113 A Paper presented to the Royal Society. 1700 T. Brown Amusem. Ser. & Com. 2, I know not what Success these Papers will find in the World. 1754 Chatham Lett. Nephew iii. 16 Spectators, especially Mr. Addison's papers, to be read very frequently. 1790 Trans. Soc. Arts IX. 210 A short paper on the Cinnamon tree. 1882 Nature XXV. 351/1 The second paper was..on the system of dredging introduced..on the rivers of France. 1887 Pall Mall G. 28 Oct. 3/2 This new theory, on which a paper was read at the late meeting of the British Association.

    II. attrib. and Comb.
    10. Simple attrib. in special senses, passing into adj. a. Of paper; made or consisting of paper.
    (Also, made of paper of a particular form or kind, as in a large-paper copy of a book, a brown-paper parcel, an oiled-paper bag, etc. See large, etc.)
    (Often unnecessarily hyphened to following n. The hyphen is needed only when the combination itself is used attrib.)

1594 T. Nash Unfortunate Traveller sig. H 4v As if it had beene a candle in a paper lanterne. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden Wks. (Grosart) III. 173 These Boyes paper-dragons that they let fly with a pack⁓thrid in the fields. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 236 Certain Cords whereat hung Paper-Lanthorns. 1670 W. Clarke Nat. Hist. Nitre 60 The paper-Bills on the walls..remain'd like the Gold unburn'd. 1707 Hearne Collect. 1 May (O.H.S.) II. 10 The Bp{ddd}desires a large-paper Livy. Ibid. 1 June 17 A royal paper copy of Mill's N.T. 1708 Ibid. 8 Apr. 101, 3 small-paper Livys. 1723 J. Nott Cook's & Confectioner's Dict. sig. Cc 2v (heading) To dry Plums..when they are dry put them into Paper Bags full of small Holes, and hang them up. 1723 Amer. Weekly Mercury 7 Nov. 2/2 The natural Situation of these Counties and the Practice of our Neighbours, has laid us [of Penna.] under the necessity of coming into a Paper Currency. 1757 [Burke] Europ. Settlem. Amer. II. 297 Money of credit, which they commonly call paper currency. 1780 Cowper Table-T. 385 The inestimable ‘Estimate’ of Brown Rose like a paper⁓kite, and charmed the town. a 1790 B. Franklin Autobiogr. in Writings (1905) I. 306 The wealthy inhabitants..being against all paper currency. Ibid., I wrote and printed an anonymous pamphlet..entitled ‘The Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency’. 1796 Jane Austen Let. 9 Jan. (1952) 3 We have trimmed up and given away all the old paper hats of Mamma's manufacture. 1808 Ibid. 24 Oct. 225 We do not want amusement: bilbocatch,..spillikins, paper ships, riddles, conundrums, and cards..keep us well employed. 1828 P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 102 Our colonial council has lately committed a great error in prohibiting..all paper issues below one pound. 1849 Noad Electricity 167 A thick paper bag. 1864 Harper's Mag. Dec. 58/2 With an umbrella and a shawl, inclosing a box of paper collars. 1867 J. Laing Theory of Business vi. 77 With Austria, Russia, America, and other countries using paper currencies..the par is exceedingly uncertain. 1870 J. K. Medbery Men & Mysteries Wall St. 23 A broker cannot..innocently fling a ‘paper dart’ at neighbour without being amerced ten dollars. 1871 Kingsley At Last v, Paper-nests,..like those of our tree-wasps at home, hang from the trees. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Paper Collar, one made from paper in imitation of linen. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 477 Seedy young men with us object to carrying paper parcels for fear of being taken for tailors. 1899 ‘Mark Twain’ in Forum (N.Y.) Mar. 31 A billionaire in a paper-collar, a king in a breech-clout. 1905 Daily Chron. 15 May 8/5 There is a craze just now for ‘paper hats’. It sounds crude, but the smartest and prettiest tricornes, mushrooms, and shady river hats are daintily woven from a soft paper. 1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 352 c/1 Paper d'oyleys. Star pattern. 1913 C. Mackenzie Sinister St. I. ii. iv. 190 They threw paper darts and paper pellets with unerring aim. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 423 A bandy child..with a papershuttlecock. 1934 A. Huxley Beyond Mexique Bay 6 He..decreed..that we should be given paper hats, balloons, and card⁓board trumpets. 1935 H. Edib Clown & his Daughter xlii. 233 Women distributing sweets in coloured paper bags passed in and out of the audience. 1951 ‘J. Tey’ Daughter of Time i. 17 She was carrying various paper bags and a small tight bunch of anemones. 1951 R. W. Jones Thomson's Dict. Banking (ed. 10) 452/1 Paper currency, the paper instruments such as bank notes, cheques, bills, and other forms which take the place of money and act as a currency or circulating medium. 1955 A. Marshall I can jump Puddles (1956) xix. 136 ‘Skeeter couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag,’ Joe asserted. 1958 Paper doily [see doily n. or a.]. 1969 ‘H. Pentecost’ Girl Watcher's Funeral (1970) ii. i. 94 That first punch.. smashed through my guard like a paper doyley. 1972 M. Woodhouse Mama Doll xi. 145 Andy Dylan made paper darts. 1973 M. Amis Rachel Papers 153 Not, for her, the wet Brillo-pad, nor the paper-bagful of kedgeree. 1973 J. Leasor Mandarin Gold ii. 18 Paper lanterns were glittering above shop fronts and over stalls. 1974 Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 17 Feb. 55/3 Strange how people assume at once the personalities of their paper hats. That man, for instance, in a boiled shirt and three exiguous Red Indian feathers. 1974 M. G. Eberhart Danger Money xiii. 134 Shoes, stockings and paper tissues littered the room. 1975 New Yorker 3 Mar. 38/3 She never got over her spending a hundred and twenty-five dollars on paper lanterns for the engagement party. 1977 R. Barnard Death on High C's ix. 87 She went through men like other women go through paper tissues.

    b. fig. Like paper; slight, thin, flimsy, frail, feeble (as if made of paper).

1615 Crooke Body of Man 60 The excellent proportion and structure..maketh this Paper-sconce high perill-proofe. a 1716 South Serm. IV. iv. 177 What Paper Walls such persons are apt to inclose themselves with. 1730 Fielding Rape upon Rape i. viii, Pox of my paper skull! 1804 Collins Scripscrap 4 Go patter to paperscull saps, do ye see. 1854 2nd Rep. Select Comm. Emigrant Ships 61 in Parl. Papers XIII. 267 These advertisers..have a kind of arrangement with the owners of vessels; they are like recruiters, they collect emigrants; their ships are known in the trade by the name of ‘paper’ ships. 1891 Labour Commission Gloss., Paper Ship, a ship built of inferior material and badly put together.

    c. fig. Consisting of, pertaining to, or carried on by means of letters to journals, pamphlets, or books; literary. (Cf. 1 d.)

1592 Nashe P. Penilesse Wks. (Grosart) II. 16 So..was this Paper-monster, Pierce Penilesse, begotten. 1592 G. Harvey Foure Lett. iv. Wks. (Grosart) I. 223 Meere Paper⁓bugs, and inckehorne-pads: or a greate deale worse. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. iii. 249 Shall quips and sentences, and these paper bullets of the braine awe a man? 1636 Prynne Unbish. Tim. (1661) Ep. 22 Books of controversie, and paper⁓battels. 1641 Milton Animadv. iv. Wks. (1847) 65/1 It will stand long enough against the battery of their paper pellets. 1672 Clarendon Ess. Tracts (1727) 252 It thought it seasonable to discontinue those paper-skirmishes. 1727 W. Stukeley in Mem. (Surtees) I. 199 My retreat secures me from malice and envy and all other kinds of paper-gall. 1761 Ann. Reg. 187 A very acrimonious paper war. 1809 ‘D. Knickerbocker’ Hist. N.Y. I. iv. iv. 231 This all potent word, which served as his touchstone in politics, at once explains the whole system of proclamations, protests, empty threats, windmills, trumpeters, and paper war. 1826 M. Kelly Reminisc. II. 119 Most of the popular songs which he sang in Sacchini's operas were composed by himself, although the credit of them was given to Sacchini; but upon a severe quarrel between them, Rauzzini, in a paper war, actually avowed himself the author of them, and accused Sacchini of the greatest ingratitude. 1895 C. R. B. Barrett Surrey 80 A life of perpetual paper warfare. 1963 D. Ogilvy Confessions Advertising Man (1964) i. 15, I abhor people who wage paper-warfare. 1970 Times 13 Feb. 10/5 In the much larger Arab world, it is a paper war for many people.

    d. Written on paper, in written form; esp. existing only ‘on paper’ (see 1 d) and not in reality; theoretical, hypothetical.

1638 Chillingw. Relig. Prot. i. Pref. to Auth. ‘Charity Maint.’ §18 The paper fortresses of an imaginary Infallibility. 1658–9 Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 37 If they have a mind to break in upon a paper law. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §122, I determined, from the paper materials that I had..at once to construct the models. 1802 M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) II. 74 We see how insignificant the best constructed paper Constitution will prove when opposed to the interests and passions of men. 1803 Deb. Congress U.S. 23 Feb. (1851) 129 Paper blockades were substituted for actual ones, and the staple commodities of our country lay perishing in our storehouses. 1812 Boston Gaz. 20 July 1/5 The paper-blockades, which have justly occasioned so much irritation, are now abandoned. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. iii. (1857) 50, I remained simply a fictitious or paper cock-fighter. 1872 Wharton's Law Lex. (ed. 5), Paper blockade, the state of a line of coast proclaimed to be under blockade in time of war, when the naval force on watch is not sufficient. 1882 Ogilvie, Paper baron, paper lord, one who holds a title which is not hereditary, or holds it by courtesy. 1893 Times 2 May 10/1 Paper profits were divided as if they were real. 1932 Sun (Baltimore) 15 Aug. 7/5 It was granted there might be a half-dozen ‘paper’ agreements at least..from the conference. 1941 J. S. Huxley Uniqueness of Man xiii. 270 Hedonism, like utilitarianism, is another of those paper schemes, beautifully logical, that just are not true. 1960 Washington Post 27 Nov. E 3 At least 70 anti Castro groups have been formed in Miami, but many of them are paper organizations. 1965 A. Nicol Truly Married Woman 43 One more week towards the time when Olu Jones and his brethren would take over. He was not worried, however, Perhaps..because I have paper qualifications. 1970 New York 16 Nov. 54/3 Abbie is a simple bourgeois basket case, a paper Yippie, and over 30 anyway. 1973 Time 25 June 66/2 Lloyd also has a number of paper companies set up in Liechtenstein. 1977 E. Ambler Send No More Roses xi. 266 A chain of twenty different corporations..all making paper profits. 1978 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 607/2 These targets are real, and not just paper objectives.

    11. General Combs. a. attrib. Of, pertaining or relating to, or used for, paper or papers; as paper-case, paper-circulation, paper-clamp, paper-clip (so paper-clip vb.), paper-colour (= white), paper-excise, paper-factory, paper-fibre, paper-file, paper market, paper-merchant, paper-payment (sense 3), paper-press, paper-pulp (see pulp), paper-punch, paper-size, paper-stuff, paper-system (sense 3 in quots.), paper trade, etc.

1679 Oates Narr. Popish Plot 48 Who..there drew out of a *Paper-Case a Paper. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. viii, A leather paper-case.

1803 Edin. Rev. II. 114 The doctrine of unlimited *paper-circulation.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Paper-clamp,..for holding newspapers, sheet music, periodicals.

Ibid., *Paper-clip, a clasp for holding papers together. 1904 Chesterton Nap. Notting Hill iii. ii. 151 One of those queer little shops..which must be called toy-shops only because toys..predominate; for the remainder of goods seem to consist of almost everything else in the world—tobacco, exercise-books,..halfpenny paper clips. 1921 V. Sackville-West Orchard & Vineyard 97, I watched..And thought how London clerks with paper⁓clips Had filed the bills of lading of those ships. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio ii. 40 Thin paper..individually paper-clipped to thick paper or card. 1963 A. Ross Australia 63 ii. 49 The two banks of the city paper-clipped together by harp-like steel bridges. 1969 P. Highsmith Tremor of Forgery xi. 101 Ingham paper⁓clipped his notes and put them on a corner of his desk. 1973 Time 25 June 44/2 With roads, the North Vietnamese can bring in the stuff of life—the paper clips for a bureaucracy, the beginning of a postal system, school supplies, the works. 1974 H. L. Foster Ribbin' vi. 284 He entered, took a tray of paper clips from her desk and sat down on a chair directly in front of her. 1976 New Yorker 1 Mar. 64/2 The note was paper-clipped to a collection of President Nixon's Vietnamization speeches. 1978 N. Freeling Night Lords xv. 64 A thin pile of letter paper, neatly squared off and paper-clipped by her fair hand.

1888 Stevenson Black Arrow 11 He will turn *paper-colour.

1860 Bright Sp., Tax bills 6 July (1876) 497 Persons who were interested in this question of the *paper-excise.

1862 H. Marryat Year in Sweden II. 400 Next year a *paper-factory will rise.

1871 Kingsley At Last xvi, The culture of bamboo for *paper-fibre.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Paper-file, a device to hold letters or other papers in a pack.

1871 Kingsley At Last xvi, To supply the United States' *paper market.

1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa viii. 307 Next followeth the streete of the *paper-merchants.

1822 Cobbett Weekly Reg. 11 May 353 The scheme for making *paper-payments perpetual.

1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 291 The screws employed for *paper-presses are generally formed with such coarse threads, and so rapid a spiral, that the elasticity of the paper is sufficient to force it to run back.

1839 Ure Dict. Arts 937 The two sheets of *paper pulp thus united are carried forward by the felt over a guide roller. 1900 Dict. Nat. Biog. LXI. 146/2 He started a paper-pulp manufactory at Chiswick.

1839 Ure Dict. Arts 936 [A] sieve is employed to strain the *paper-stuff previously to its being used in the machine.

1803 Edin. Rev. II. 105 Dabblers in the *paper-system. 1823 in Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) I. 398 We can have no war, as long as the paper-system lasts.

    b. Objective and obj. gen., as paper-blessing, paper-saving, paper-selling, paper-sparing, paper-using adjs.; paper-colourer, paper-dauber, paper-glosser, paper-holder, paper-keeper, paper-maker, paper-making, paper-marbler, paper-reader, paper-seller, paper-sorter, paper-spiller, paper-splitting, paper-tester, paper-waster. c. Instrumental and parasynthetic, as paper-bound (see also sense 12 below), paper-capped, paper-clothed, paper-collared, paper-covered, paper-insulated, paper-mended, paper-palisaded, paper-panelled, paper-patched, paper-shuttered, paper-soled, paper-wrapped adjs. d. Similative, etc., as paper-hearted, paper-like, paper-thick, paper-thin, (freq. fig.), paper-white adjs., paper-whiteness.

1597 Drayton Mortimeriados S ij b, What *paper-blessing Charrecters are you?

1882 W. Whitman Daybks. & Notebks. (1978) II. 287 *Paper-bound L of G with revisions prop. 1901 Sketch 24 July 26/2 The unsold paper-bound books in Germany are returned to the publisher, who re-binds them. 1928 A. Huxley Let. 12 Dec. (1969) 304 He'd be able to get rid of the paper bound copies at the same time. 1942 E. Waugh Put out More Flags i. 32 The Vichy water and the paper bound-volume of Balzac on the table before her..spoke of what..she would have called her ‘personality’. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 2 Oct. 14/4, I disappeared into the bathroom..with a jar of bath salts and a paper⁓bound novel.

1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 5 So euery *paper-clothed post in Poules To thee (Deloney) mourningly doth speake.

1874 A. Bathgate Colonial Experiences viii. 86 A section of the community known as the ‘*paper⁓collared swells’, who are the government officials, medical men, bank employees et hoc genus omne.

1867 Geo. Eliot Let. 21 Mar. (1956) IV. 354 People write..to tell me of one *paper-covered American copy of Felix Holt being brought to Europe. 1872 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. Apr. 264/2 To jump through a paper-covered hoop. 1923 J. M. Murry Pencillings 18 The paper-covered book, in fact, a rough and ready test of literary curiosity. 1952 Amer. Speech XXVII. 149 The paper-covered book in the United States is earning a place for itself much above that of the ‘paper-back’ and ‘dime novel’. 1978 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 702/1 To have a catalogue of all the Institute's dix-huitième drawings in the small compass of a paper-covered 8vo volume including a coloured illustration of every one of them, is most valuable.

1682 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 58 (1713) II. 110 We shall ne'er have done, if every whiffling *Paper-dauber must be regarded.

1882 Ogilvie, *Paper-glosser, a hot-presser for glossing paper or cards; one who gives a smooth surface to paper.

1939 Dylan Thomas Let. Mar. (1966) 226 The English poets now are such a..*paperhearted crowd you could blow them down with one bellow out of a done lung.

1900 Jrnl. Inst. Electr. Engin. Dec. (Advt., verso rear cover), Diatrine *paper-insulated..cables. 1967 IEEE Trans. Power Apparatus & Systems LXXXVI. 34 (heading) Drying and impregnation of paper-insulated power cables.

1927 Daily Tel. 3 May 3 In the opinion of the Postmaster-General the *paperkeepers were amply remunerated at the present rates. 1970 Ibid. 12 Jan. 1/6 There would be a series of strikes by 10,000 messengers and paper⁓keepers in Whitehall. Ibid., The effect of the strike..will be that documents will not be circulated to departments by the paper-keepers.

1663 Gerbier Counsel 93 *Paper-like walls. 1857 Mrs. Gatty Parables fr. Nat. (1859) II. 33 Little pieces of his delicate paper-like bark.

1573–80 Baret Alv. P 77 A *paper maker, chartarius. 1832 Babbage Econ. Manuf. xxxi. (ed. 3) 320 If the author deals at once with the paper-maker.

1816 Singer Hist. Cards 20 The art of *paper-making not being introduced into England before the reign of Henry VII. 1887 in Moloney Forestry W. Afr. 195 We think the West African Colonies specially adapted to the supply of paper-making basts.

1886 Cassell, *Paper-marbler, one who marbles or colours paper with veins in imitation of marble for book-binding, paper-hangings, etc.

1902 Conrad Typhoon ii. 19 A mournful,..Chinaman, walking behind in *paper-soled silk shoes, and who also carried an umbrella.

1726 Swift Adv. to Grub-Street Verse-Writers iv, Lend these to *paper-sparing Pope.

1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 327 This grand scripturient *paper-spiller..Was strangly tost from post to pillar.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Paper-splitting, two pieces of muslin are firmly cemented on the sides of the paper and dried. By a pull on each piece the paper is split open.

1655 Marquis of Worcester Cent. Inv. xliv, A Key..which..hath its Wards and Rose-pipe but *Paper-thick.

1929 E. Bowen Last September vii. 85 The door went *paper⁓thin as they raised their voices. 1939 ‘N. Blake’ Smiler with Knife 99 His old, paper-thin voice. 1971 Guardian 17 Sept. 4/6, I do want to dedicate what is left of my life..to..this paper-thin thing of law and order. 1976 Liverpool Echo 24 Nov. 5/4 The Government's paper-thin majority. 1977 Guardian Weekly 28 Aug. 3/1 Even a paper thin majority in favour of the rule at Congress would ensure TGWU support. 1978 B. Norman To nick Good Body vii. 57 There was this thumping in their bedroom. Paper-thin the walls are in those houses.

1881 H. H. Gibbs Double Stand. 67 To supply..a *paper-using country with a required metal.

1682 Modest Account 13 For your Lordship to turn *Paper-waster.

c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 1198 Dido, Up on a thikke palfrey *paper whit. 1806 Curtis's Bot. Mag. XXIV. 947 (heading) Italian or *paper-white Narcissus. 1938 [see grandiflora a.]. 1957 L. Durrell Justine 66 They [sc. Egyptian women] have become tuns of pleasure, rolling on paper-white blue-veined legs. 1973 J. Burrows Like an Evening Gone xi. 128 [He] had turned paper-white when given the news. 1977 P. Moyes To kill Coconut v. 66 Paper-white legs proclaimed him a new arrival.

1874 R. Tyrwhitt Sketch. Club 21 You have only the *paper-whiteness to stand for both.

1973 M. Amis Rachel Papers 32 An old woman passed by surreptitiously dropping *paper-wrapped sugar-lumps on to the chair opposite.

    12. Special Combs.: † paper-bank, a bank issuing notes; paper birch (see birch n. 1 b); paper-blurrer, a contemptuous name for an inferior writer; paper-board, (a) pasteboard = board n. 4; (b) pl. boards with a paper cover, used in book-binding; paper boat, (a) a model boat made from folded paper; (b) a lightly made vessel; paperbound n. (see sense 11 c above) (chiefly U.S.) = paperback; paper box, (a) a box made of paper; (b) a box in which to keep papers; paper-boy, a boy employed to sell newspapers; paper cable, an electric cable insulated with paper; paper cap, (a) a cap made of usu. coloured paper and worn at festivals, parties, etc.; (b) a cap made of paper worn by carpenters and other workmen; paper chain, a chain made of usu. coloured paper as a decoration, esp. at Christmas; paper-chase, the game of hare and hounds (see hare n. 3 b) when paper is used for the ‘scent’; hence paper-chaser, paper-chasing adj.; also transf. and fig.; paper-chewing slang (rare), official correspondence; paper chromatogram Chem., a chromatogram made on a paper support; paper chromatography Chem., the separation of substances by chromatography on a paper support; hence paper chromatographic adj., paper-chromatographically adv.; † paper-cigar, a cigarette; paper-cloth, (a) a kind of cloth faced with paper; (b) a fabric made by Polynesians from the inner bark of the paper-mulberry and other trees; paper-coal, (a) a variety of coal or lignite of the Tertiary period, which splits into thin layers; (b) = dysodyle; paper cover, (a) see quot. 1960; (b) = paperback; paper credit (Comm.), ‘credit given on the security of any written obligation purporting to represent property’ (Wharton Law Lex. 1883); ‘the term as commonly used includes book-debts, I.O.U.'s, and instruments of credit of all kinds’ (Bithell Counting-ho. Dict. 1893); paper cup, a drinking cup made of thin cardboard; paper-cutter, (a) a paper-knife; (b) a machine for cutting the edges of paper; paper day (Law): see quot.; paper doll, (a) a doll-shaped figure cut or folded from a sheet of paper; (b) U.S. slang: (see quots. 1968–70, 1970); paper dress, an inexpensive disposable dress made of paper; paper dust Printing (see quot. 1964); paper-faced a., (a) having a face like paper, i.e. thin or pale; (b) faced with paper; paper-fastener, a metallic contrivance for fastening separate leaves of paper together more conveniently than a pin; paper-feed, a device for inserting sheets of paper into a typewriter, printing machine, or the like; paper-feeder, a workman or contrivance supplying a printing machine with sheets of paper: cf. feeder 8 a and c; paper flower, (a) an imitation flower made from paper; (b) U.S., a name used for several plants with flowers of a papery texture, esp. Psilostrophe cooperi, a small shrub of the family Compositæ, native to south-western desert areas of the United States and bearing panicles of yellow flowers; paper-folder, an instrument for folding paper, as a paper-knife, or the folding-stick used in bookbinding; paper-folding, the making of objects by folding paper, origami; paper game, a game played using pencil and paper; paper-gauge, -gage (Printing), = gauge n. 12 a; paper gold = special drawing rights (special a. 3 d); paper guide, an adjustable device on a typewriter for ensuring that the left edge of each sheet of paper is inserted at the same place; paper handkerchief, a disposable handkerchief made from soft tissue paper; paper hankie, hanky colloq., = paper handkerchief; paper-hornet, a hornet that makes a papery nest (cf. paper-wasp); paper-hunt = paper-chase; paper kiosk, a kiosk at which newspapers are sold; paper-machine, a machine for making paper; paper-making wasp = paper-wasp; paper man, a man employed in some way about paper, as a paper-maker, a paper-hanger, etc.; one who sells or supplies papers; a musician, esp. a drummer, who plays from written music; paper-marl, a kind of marl occurring in thin layers; paper-match = book match (book n. 18); paper minister (Sc. colloq.), a minister who reads his sermons; † paper-moth, a moth of which the larva devours paper; fig. one who is constantly occupied with paper (cf. bookworm); paper-mulberry, a small tree (Broussonetia papyrifera) allied to the mulberry, from the bark of which paper is made in China and Japan; paper-muslin: see quot.; paper napkin, a disposable table-napkin made of paper; paper nautilus = Argonaut 2; paper nylon, a stiff paper-like form of nylon; † paper paste [= F. carton pâte], papier mâché; paper pattern, a pattern cut out of paper; spec. a dressmaking pattern printed on paper, now usu. on tissue paper with printed instructions; paper pholas, see pholas; † paper-plant, papyrus; paper plate, (a) a disposable plate made of paper or cardboard; (b) a specially treated paper used as an offset printing plate in certain office duplicating machines; † paper-plot, the plot of a play, etc., drawn up on paper; paper poplar: see poplar; paper priest, ? = paper minister; paper-reed, the papyrus; paper ribbon, (a) = paper tape below; (b) = paper streamer below; paper-round, the job of regularly delivering newspapers; the particular route covered; paper route U.S., = paper-round above; † paper-royal: see royal; paper-ruler, an instrument used for, or person employed in, ruling straight lines on paper, a ruler; paper run N.Z., = paper-round above; paper-rush, the papyrus; paper sack, (a) U.S. a paper bag; (b) a large sack-like container made of strong paper; paper sailor, the argonaut or paper nautilus; paper sculpture, the making of three-dimensional structures from one or more pieces of paper by folding, cutting, etc.; paper shale Geol., shale which readily splits into very thin paper-like laminæ; paper-shell, anything with a very thin shell, as a soft-shelled crab; so paper-shelled a., having a very thin shell; paper shredder, a machine that tears up esp. secret documents into small unreadable fragments; so paper-shredding adj.; paper-spar, a form of calcite occurring in very thin plates (also called slate-spar); † paper-stealth, literary piracy, plagiarism; paper-stock, raw material from which paper is made; paper streamer, a long narrow strip of coloured paper used as a decoration, etc.; † paper-table, a sheet or leaf of paper; paper-taffeta, a lightweight taffeta with a crisp papery finish; paper tape, tape made of paper; esp. such on which data is represented by means of holes punched in it; freq. attrib.; cf. tape n.¹ 2 b, perforated tape (perforated ppl. a. 1), punched tape (punched ppl. a. 2); paper tiger [tr. a Chinese expression first used by Chairman Mao], a person, country, etc., that appears outwardly powerful or important but is actually weak or ineffective; paper towel, a small disposable towel made of absorbent paper; paper tower, the part of a Monotype machine (monotype n. 3) in which the perforated paper tape is held; paper town N. Amer., (a) a town that is projected or promoted but not always actually founded; (b) a town or city supported by the paper-making industry; paper-tree, name for various trees and shrubs from which paper is made, as the Chinese paper-mulberry, Daphne cannabina, Edgeworthia Gardneri, and Trophis aspera, all of the East Indies; paper ware, (articles made of) papier-mâche; paper-washing (Photogr.), water in which silver prints have been washed, esp. before toning, which often contains a considerable proportion of silver; paper-wasp, a wasp that constructs its nest of a papery substance made from dry wood moistened into a paste; paper-weight, a small heavy flat-bottomed object, of stone, metal, glass, etc., often ornamental, intended to be laid upon loose papers to prevent their being removed or disarranged; paper window, a window in which paper is used instead of glass; hence paper-windowed a.; paper-work, (a) work in paper, a structure made of paper; (b) a writing, a literary work; (c) the written work of a student in a class or examination; (d) work done on paper, the filling-in of esp. official forms, the keeping of administrative records; paper-works, a set of buildings in which paper is made, a paper-factory, paper-mill; † paper-worm = bookworm 2.

1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 26 Two trading⁓companies,..an Insurance company, and a *paper-bank.

1866 Treas. Bot. 141 The *Paper Birch, B[etula] papyracea, so called from the brilliant white colour of the bark of young trees, is an American species.

1581 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 61, I, that..am admitted into the company of the *Paper-blurers. 1652–62 Heylin Cosmogr. iii. (1682) 182 Every foolish and idle paper-blurrer. 1852 K. H. Digby Compitum vi. 269 The conventional, exaggerated effusions of mere paper-blurrers.

1549 Bk. Com. Prayer (Colophon), Bounde..in *Paper Boordes. 1888 C. T. Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 95 Paper boards, a term applied to cheap bindings in boards, but with paper instead of cloth sides. 1929 A. J. Vaughan Mod. Bookbinding iv. 216 Paper or Cloth Boards, a binding consisting of a case made from a paper or cloth cover. 1944 Sun (Baltimore) 9 Jan. 3/5 The Robert Gair Company plant, manufacturing paperboard for containers and boxes for war purposes, was shut down today because of a lack of wastepaper. 1959 R. Hostettler et al. Technical Terms Printing Industry (ed. 3) 103/1 (Bound) in paper boards. 1959 A. McLintock Descr. Atlas N.Z. 59 The value of production of pulp, paper, and paperboard for 1956–7 was {pstlg}12·4 million. 1961 J. Carter ABC for Bk.-Collectors (ed. 3) 143 Notwithstanding that ‘original boards’..are in fact covered with paper, the term paper boards, if used of any but quite modern books..suggests boards..covered with paper of a plain colour, usually not the original binding. 1965 B. J. Kirkpatrick Bibliogr. E. M. Forster 47 Pale green paper boards; printed in black on upper cover. 1971 New Scientist 27 Apr. 259/2 Scrap paper..is used to make some forms of paperboard for packaging.

? 1846 Mrs. Gaskell Let. (1966) 48 All the children were very kind to Florence, and made her paper boxes, and *boats.

1863 Dickens in All Year Round 26 Sept. 108/1 My voyages (in paper boats) among savages often yield me matter for reflection at home. 1929 F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 101 Paper boat, a lightly-built vessel of any sort, but particularly applied to paddle excursion steamers. 1931 R. Campbell Georgiad iii. 61 The anecdotes Of Alfred's cakes and Shelley's paper boats. 1961 F. H. Burgess Dict. Sailing 156 Paper boat, any boat with very thin planking. 1964 M. Clive Day of Reckoning viii. 73 Parlour tricks, such as making cocked hats out of newspaper or paper boats from half-sheets of writing paper. 1978 Listener 12 Jan. 57/2 A parting gift from his cell-mate..a little paper boat..not more than two or three millimetres long.

1961 Spectator 26 May 765 (Advt.), Yale *Paperbounds. Yale University Press. 1970 Scholarly Publishing I. 419 Yale Fastbacks will be made available as paperbounds, at low cost, and they will often reflect the newest techniques of rapid book production. 1973 Publishers Weekly 7 May 10 (Advt.), Now The Divine Vision is a Quest paperbound.

1754 Connoisseur I. 189 The man of taste takes his Strasburgh veritable tabac from a right Paris *paper-box, and the pretty fellow uses a box of polished metal, that by often opening it he may have the opportunity of stealing a glance at his own sweet person reflected in the lid of it. 1757 in S. M. Hamilton Lett. to Washington (1899) II. 80 Paper Box of Tarsils..1. 1776 J. Wedgwood Let. 14 July (1965) 195 They have not much expectation in those articles (unless in very cheap paper Boxes) from any market where they have the French for their Rivals. 1861 D. G. Rossetti Let. 19 Jan. (1965) II. 389 Will you tell her we are very thankful for her paper-box, which is very useful? 1869 Boyd's Business Directory N.Y. State 460 H. Lettington, Manufacturer of Paper Boxes. 1913 J. London Valley of Moon i. xi. 96 As if I didn't know..how long you worked in..the paper-box factory. 1926–7 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 383/2 Paper boxes, japanned tin.

1876 Besant & Rice Gold. Butterfly v. 38 The *paper-boy was beginning, with the milkman, his round.

1893 W. J. Hopkins Telephone Lines xiv. 209 In the *paper cables made by John A. Roebling & Sons Company, two paper strips are laid on lengthwise, as loosely as possible, being held in place by thread wound about them. 1936 Economist 22 Feb. 437/1 The board intended to extend the business of the company into new lines, the main business being the manufacture of paper cables. 1973 R. W. Sillars Electr. Insulating Materials v. 88 Drying of high voltage oil-filled paper cables..is more critical than transformer drying, for the stress at working voltage is considerably higher and therefore discharge is more difficult to avoid.

1809 ‘D. Knickerbocker’ Hist. N.Y. II. vi. viii. 162 Little urchins..followed in droves after the drums, with *paper caps on their heads. 1835 Dickens Sk. Boz. (1836) 1st Ser. II. 149 An unshaven, dirty, sottish-looking fellow, whose tarnished paper-cap..communicates an additionally repulsive expression to his very uninviting countenance. 1887 Kipling Plain Tales from Hills (1888) 231 A big blue paper cap from a cracker. 1967 C. V. Bark See Living Crocodiles iii. 44 The guests wore paper caps and pulled crackers. 1974 L. Lamb Man in Mist vi. 37, I can well remember when carpenters and masons wore paper caps, as they still do in Italy and in Tenniel's Alice.

1943 N. Balchin Small Back Room iii. 31 It's a damned shame we haven't got a few *paper chains and a bit of misletoe for the old boy. 1971 M. McCarthy Birds of America 31 He..preferred the [Christmas] tree..with..the paper chains he cut and pasted. 1973 E. Jong Half-Lives 82, I tie you to the bed with paper chains.

1856 Dickens Scapegrace in Househ. Words XIII. 28/2 What leapers of brooks, what runners in *paper chases! 1914 Paperchase [see cycle-car]. 1932 Times Lit. Suppl. 9 June 425/4 This is not the usual paper-chase of clues from crime to detection. 1977 Arab Times 14 Nov. 2/1 Now, in what local journalists call the great paper chase, three newspapers for blacks are competing at the newsstands.

1884 Manch. Exam. 6 Dec. 5/4 There are by-roads and field⁓paths enough..to satisfy the wants of the *paper chasers.

1884 C. Dickens Dict. Lond. 28/1 There is plenty of cross⁓country sport promoted by the *paper-chasing clubs.

1934 ‘G. Orwell’ Burmese Days ii. 30, I can't stick my bloody office..signing one chit after another. *Paper-chewing. Ibid. 38 All this paper-chewing and chit-passing.

1944 Biochem. Jrnl. XXXVIII. 231/2 The *paper chromatograms are by no means united to the separation of aminoacids. 1972 K. Narita in M. Funatsu et al. Proteins II. 246 Radioactivity of acetylglycylserine was almost the same as that found in the material which stayed at the origin on the paper chromatogram.

1956 Nature 7 Jan. 22/1 He described preliminary studies on the successful *paper-chromatographic separation of intact tissue phospholipids. 1971 Jrnl. Chromatogr. LX. 381 Almost the entire present knowledge on the composition of human urinary sugar content in health and disease can be ascribed to paper chromatographic studies.

1966 Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) LXXIX. 507 Three amino acids are formed that can be identified *paper-chromatographically.

1948 Science 7 May 483/2 It appears that..*paper chromatography will be found to be an increasingly important research tool in analyzing for amino acids. 1971 C. T. Kenner Analyt. Separations & Determinations xv. 282 Two-dimensional paper chromatography is used to separate complex mixtures of amino acids produced by hydrolysis of protein.

1833 Marryat P. Simple xvii, A *paper segar. 1843 [see cigarette 1 a]. 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. xliii, Walking about..smoking little paper cigars.

1843 W. Humble Dict. Geol. & Min., *Paper coal..composed..of a congeries of many kinds of leaves. 1896 Chester Dict. Names Min., Paper-coal, an early name for dysodile, alluding to the paper-like leaves in which it occurs.

1856 Geo. Eliot Let. 24 Dec. (1954) II. 282 George definitely votes for..boards. He thinks a *paper cover for a philosophical book a bad augury. 1903 Daily Chron. 10 July 3/4 Paper-cover issues of scientific and other serious books. 1913 T. E. Lawrence Let. 5 Apr. (1938) 152 If you have any cheap paper-covered copy..(paper-covers are customs free)..I would be exceedingly grateful. 1952 Amer. Speech XXVII. 149 It is not clear whether the Matrix..uses limp-cover in contradistinction to hard-cover or paper-cover. 1960 G. A. Glaister Gloss. Bk. 295/1 Paper covers, a style of binding much used for cheap reprints, and, especially on the Continent, for original works in which no boards are used, and the stiff paper cover which encloses the book is adhered to the back.

a 1697 H. Pollexfen Disc. Trade A v, *Paper Credit ever was, and will be, necessary for the carrying on of Trade. 1704 Lond. Gaz. No. 3991/3 They have set up a sort of Paper Credit at Strasburg, where they pay..in Bills. 1732 Pope Ep. Bathurst 39 Blest paper-credit! last and best supply! That lends Corruption lighter wings to fly! 1803 Edin. Rev. II. 102 Paper-credit is the visible sign of public credit, and identical with it.

1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 352e/2 *Paper drinking cups, complete with holders. 1939 G. Greene Lawless Roads xi. 272 The odious child takes all the paper cups from the water-tap by the lavatory. 1971 J. Henderson Copperhead (1972) xv. 191 A girl appeared with..the usual paper cups. 1978 R. Hill Pinch of Snuff xxiv. 239 She..poured tea from the flask into the paper cups.

a 1828 D. Wordsworth Jrnl. (1941) II. 128, I purchased a ladle and a *paper-cutter..made by the peasants of these mountains. 1829 Lytton Disowned xxxv, A pause ensued... Lord Borodaile played with a paper-cutter. 1901 Harper's Mag. CII. 797/1 There he was fitted out with everything he wanted, down to a silver paper-cutter. 1969 New Yorker 14 June 46/3 His overhead is hit with his whole arm—no mere flick of the wrist. The arm comes down like the moving part of a paper cutter.

1838 Chitty Archbold's Pract. Crt. Q.B. (ed. 6) 101 In each of the courts there are certain days in each term called *Paper Days, because the court, on those days, hear the causes which have been entered in the paper for argument before they enter upon motions.

1849 G. S. Appleton Mother Goose in Hieroglyphicks (1963) (Advt., recto rear cover), Chandler's *paper dolls of the latest Paris fashions. No. 1—Carrie, with her Dresses and Bonnets. 1903 H. Keller Story my Life i. ii. 12 Two little children..were busy cutting out paper dolls. 1968–70 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) III–IV. 81 Make like a paper doll, and cut out,..to leave. 1970 C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 89 Paper doll,..to play hookey from school; to leave. 1972 T. I. Elliott in Kawai's Origami (ed. 4) p. iv, Playing with paper dolls is for girls, and the closest a guy approaches a paper doll is in the famous song where he buys ‘a paper doll that other fellows will not steal’. 1976 New Yorker 15 Nov. 50/2 Maria undresses her paper doll and deliberately rips a feather off its hat.

1966 Listener 15 Dec. 893/1 This..is the year of the *paper dress that can be worn and then tossed in the waste basket. Ibid. 893/2 Paper-dress fabrics take colour well, and can be shortened with scissors. 1967 Observer 21 May 28/6 The best use so far of so-called ‘paper’ dresses—as instant summer bargains to be chucked away with no regrets. 1970 New Society 5 Mar. 385/2 It's a market that started developing in the fifties, boomed briefly in the mid-sixties with gimmicks like paper dresses, reassessed itself and looks set for a genuine boom in the mid-seventies.

1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands iii. 27 Over these [sc. side-whiskers] the feathery *paper-dust collected till they looked like the wings of an adolescent gosling. 1964 Gloss. Letterpress Rotary Printing Terms (B.S.I.) 5 Paper dust or fluff, fibre (fluff) or loading (dust) which leaves the web as it passes through the printing press or slitters. 1971 Engineering Apr. 79 (Advt.), Clean air in every facet of industry... Paper dust.

1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. iv. 12 Thou *Paper-fac'd Villaine..Thou thin man. 1892 Greener Breech Loader 174 The wadding used in the shot-gun is of three varieties..3rd, a hard felt paper⁓faced wad,..the ‘pink edge’ or Field wad.

1864 U.S. Patent Specif. No. 43,435 A new and useful Legal Cap-*Paper Fastener. 1867 Patent Specif. No. 2276 An eyelet and paper fastener combined. 1897 Daily News 9 Dec. 7/7 [He] secured the envelope..with a paper-fastener, which he ran through the envelope, doubling over the ends.

1920 H. Etheridge Dict. Typewriting 177 The *paper feed of a typewriter consists of a paper roller (or platen) and two or more small feed rollers, which latter are kept in contact with the platen by means of springs, to allow of different thicknesses of paper being inserted. 1960 Times 24 Feb. 9/2 New fast paper-feed with integrated controls to reduce hand-movement. 1961 T. Landau Encycl. Librarianship (ed. 2) 120/2 The modern electric duplicator with its automatic paper-feed, counting mechanism and automatic stopping device, is a highly efficient and economical machine. 1967 Karch & Buber Offset Processes ix. 369 The delivery paper-feed control..controls the feed of paper from the delivery end.

1854 Rep. Trans. Pennsylvania State Agric. Soc. 176 The first premium on *paper flowers, is awarded to No. 177. 1892 Jrnl. Amer. Folk-Lore V. 99 Xeranthemum, Helichrysum, paper-flowers. 1915 Armstrong & Thornber Field Bk. Western Wild Flowers 542 Paper Flowers. Psilostrophe Cooperi. Yellow. Spring. Southwest. 1935 R. Macaulay Personal Pleasures 256 Like those Japanese paper flowers which gently unfold and bloom in bowls of water..the mind puts out boughs and sprigs of blossom and ripe fruits, inebriating and enticing the charmed soul. 1972 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 2 Apr. 2/3 Paper-flower and sun⁓drop raced up the hills. 1974 C. Fremlin By Horror Haunted 94 Just look at all these mats, and doilies, and paper flowers!

1864 Lowell Fireside Trav. 123 A useful old jackknife will buy more than the daintiest..*paper-folder. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Paper-folder, a bone knife used in folding paper, folding signatures for sewing, and feeding paper from the bank to the press.

1893 T. S. Row (title) Geometric exercises in *paper folding. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 30 Sept. 13/2 Paper folding has long been a favourite amusement in our Kindergartens. 1908 W. F. White Scrap-bk. Elem. Math. 144 (heading) Symmetry Illustrated by Paper Folding. 1968 [see origami]. 1972 T. I. Elliott tr. Kawai's Origami (ed. 4) p. i, Origami, paper-folding, can be enjoyed by children and adults alike.

1879 C. M. Yonge Magnum Bonum III. xxxv. 759 To listen to an exposition of the microphone, to share in a Shakespeare reading, or worse still, in a *paper game, was..such a bore. 1934 E. Waugh Handful of Dust i. 21 ‘No paper games?’ ‘Oh, no, nothing like that. A certain amount of bridge and back⁓gammon and low poker.’ 1961 A. Wilson Old Men at Zoo iii. 125, I felt..that it would not be long before we were involved in paper games or even a sing-song round the piano. 1975 R. Player Let's talk of Graves iv. 108 We played games—paper games and Ludo.

1966 Wall St. Jrnl. 1 Dec. 5/2 World monetary reform negotiators removed some of the major stumbling blocks in their path to creating ‘*paper gold’, although many more still remain. 1971 Daily Tel. 10 May 14 ‘Paper gold’..is a credit, listed in a computer in Washington, for each country which is a member of the International Monetary Fund. The members agree to use it to pay debts among themselves under certain rules, the only one of which need bother us is that no one except governments ever owns ‘paper gold’. 1973 Times 15 Nov. 25/6 The nations of the world should start doing something to find a more catchy name for the Special Drawing Right, whose popular (well, fairly popular) nickname of ‘paper gold’ has recently been coming under attack in Britain. 1978 Guardian Weekly 19 Nov. 5/1 An agreement..to begin to phase out the world role of the United States dollar and its progressive replacement with so called ‘paper gold’, the basket of international currencies known as the IMF Special Drawing Rights.

1952 Leslie & Pepe Methods of Teaching Typing Simplified i. 9 *Paper guide should be set and paper inserted by the teacher. 1962 Which? Dec. 354 Only four of the machines..had a paper guide for helping to get the left edge of the paper at the same place each time. 1970 L. Gartside Teaching Business Subjects viii. 173 Adjustment of margin stops with special reference to the paper-guide.

1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 510/1 Handkerchiefs, *Paper (Medicated)—These soft, silky papers are specially prepared for invalids, and are invaluable to sufferers from bronchial affections, catarrh, &c. 1939 R. Stout Red Threads (1941) viii. 109 A luxury brand of paper handkerchief, used for wiping creams from the skin. 1954 I. Murdoch Under Net iv. 62, I was choking and sneezing and using up a sackful of paper handkerchiefs. 1976 P. Ferris Detective i. 2 Rubbing the sweat off his bald head with a paper handkerchief.

1969 Woman 19 July 9/2 What man will pick up a dropped *paper hanky? 1970 A. Ross Manchester Thing 66 Purse, loose change, paper hankies, comb—that kind of stuff. 1974 N. Freeling Dressing of Diamond 171 Vera..gave him a paper hanky. Bernard..mopped at his face.

1886 Pop. Sci. Mo. XXVIII. 642 The positions of the *paper-hornets' nests..are variously asserted to be indicative of a ‘hard’ or ‘open’ winter, as they chance to be placed in the upper or lower branches of a tree.

1871 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. Jan. 52 Hilton backed up Gordon at the *paper-hunt yesterday.

1935 E. Bowen House in Paris i. 11 A *paper kiosk opened to take its stock in.

1839 Ure Dict. Arts 937 The pulp being diluted to a consistency suitable for the *paper machine, is delivered into a vat.

1867 Amer. Naturalist I. 140 The odor that arises from the Tarantula killer when she uses her sting..resembles the odor of the *paper-making wasp (Vespa), only much stronger.

1619 Purchas Microcosm. lv. 522 The Printer.., Inke-man, *Paper-man, Corrector. 1753 H. Walpole Lett. (1846) II. 469, I have..paper-men to scold. 1936 Metronome Feb. 21/4 Paper man, drummer who plays only what's written. 1936 Delineator CXXIX. 10/3 We have heard that no music is used... No, indeed! Papermen are not welcome in this esoteric milieu. 1970 C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 89 Paper man, musician..who plays according to written music.

1707–12 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 87 *Paper-Marle, which lies near Coals, and [is] like Leaves or Pieces of brown Paper, only 'tis something lighter for Colour.

1832 F. Trollope Dom. Manners Amer. II. xxvi. 74 Four ink⁓wipers, three *paper-matches, and a paste-board watch⁓case. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xlv. 519 Little Ruth..had a particular interest in some delicate paper-matches on the chimney-piece: wondering who could have made them.

1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. v. (1857) 86 The skin-flint wife of a *paper minister.

1698 Farquhar Love & Bottle iii. i, Are my clothes so coarse, as if they were spun by those lazy spinsters the Muses?.. Do my hands look like *paper-moths?

1777 G. Forster Voy. round World I. 354 Cloth made of the bark of the *paper-mulberry, which we commonly called the cloth-tree. 1872 Oliver Elem. Bot. ii. 133 The Paper Mulberry..furnishes to the Polynesian Islanders the useful Tapa cloth, which is fabricated from its fibrous bark.

1864 Webster, *Paper-muslin, glazed muslin, used for linings, and the like.

1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. 109/1 *Paper Napkins..for tourists, travelers, lawn parties, lunches, picnics. 1945 G. Brooks in S. Henderson Understanding New Black Poetry (1973) 175 Some paper napkins in a water glass. 1972 L. Lamb Picture Frame xiv. 122 He put in his order, saw it..served in paper napkins on plates.

1959 J. T. Story Mix me a Person iv. 42 The fossilised remains of juke boxes and female frolic skeletons in *paper-nylon slips. 1960 C. MacInnes Mr. Love & Justice 82 The man in Italian drape.., the woman with..paper nylon petticoat and white stilettos.

1763 W. Lewis Comm. Phil. Techn. 367 This varnish, mixed with ivory-black,..is applied..on the dried *paper paste.

1702 Pepys Let. 13 Sept. (1926) II. 272 A strict measure cutt in paper of the originall writeing..and..a strict copy taken of the sayd writeing..one copy thereof and of the *paper-patterne, attested by the Doctor, to bee delivered to him. 1833 in A. Adburgham Shops & Shopping (1964) iv. 40 A great variety of Morning, Dinner, Evening, Ball & Opera Dresses,..which are made in models and full-size Paper Patterns. 1909 G. S. Porter Girl of Limberlost iv. 54 Margaret Sinton was busy with the gingham and the intricate paper pattern. 1969 Times 30 Sept. 15/2 Sales of paper patterns—an invention claimed by an American, Mrs. Butterick more than 100 years ago but almost certainly extant in London earlier—are quoted at more than 22 million per year. 1974 M. Cecil Heroines in Love iv. 84 Paper patterns for home dressmaking.

1597 Gerarde Herbal i. xxvii. §4. 37 This kinde of reede, which I haue englished Paper reede, or *Paper plant, is the same..that paper was made of in Egypt.

1723 J. Nott Cook's & Confectioner's Dict. sig. B2v Almond Bisket..bake them on *Paper-Plates in a moderate Oven. 1948 R. R. Karch Graphic Arts Procedures viii. 242 Three kinds of plates are used on the Multilith Duplicators. On the paper plate provided for one-run jobs, you can type, write, letter, draw, paint, rule, or trace the image desired in special inks. The plate is then placed on the press without further preparation. 1966 ‘D. Shannon’ With a Vengeance (1968) iii. 48 [He] confiscated one of the hot cookies she'd just transferred to the paper plate. 1971 R. K. Smith Ransom (1972) iv. 167 Greer took the paper plate of hamburgers in one hand..and walked to the standup counter. 1975 New Yorker 16 June 25/2 Some girls went to wash their hands, and others..killed time by wearing paper plates on their heads. 1976 Times 1 Apr. 32/9 (Advt.), Multilith paper plates, large surplus stock, variety of sizes.

1628 Ford Lover's Mel. iii. iii, Enter Palador, Aretus, Corax (with a *paper-plot). 1716 M. Davies Athen. Brit. II. 56 His Book limited not his design, nor his Paper-Plot his undertakings.

1781 Reading not Preaching ii. 11 Let our *paper-priests and reading clergy apply this to themselves.

1597 *Paper Reede [see paper-plant above]. 1611 Bible Isa. xix. 7 The paper reeds by the brookes..shall wither.

1876 *Paper ribbon [see perforator 1]. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 120/2 The paper ribbon R is moved forward by its centre row of holes. 1903 [see paper tape below]. 1922 [see paper tower below]. 1935 G. Greene Basement Room 102 He hadn't blown whistles or thrown paper ribbons. 1965 Paper ribbon [see monotype n. 3].

1948 C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident iv. 47, I asked if he'd let me take on part of his *paper-round that evening. 1960 C. Dale Spring of Love i. 22 If I'm ever hard up for a job I'll come to you for a paper round... So if you ever need a paper boy, remember yours truly. 1971 C. Storr Thursday i. 15 The paper-round money had to provide Thursday with the things other children got without having to work.

1868 Figaro (San Francisco) 23 July 2/1 A *Paper Route—One of the best on the most substantial city daily. 1929 T. Wolfe Look Homeward, Angel (1930) xxvi. 349 He found a substitute for his paper route. 1973 Publishers Weekly 19 Nov. 60/3 Isabelle gets to use some of that energy taking over her brother's paper route. 1975 New Yorker 28 July 28 (caption) Thank goodness, Winant has got himself a paper route, so we have a little something coming in.

1948 D. Ballantyne Cunninghams i. viii. 48 Gilbert wanted..a bike for Christmas so's he could have a *paper run.

1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Paper, The description given by Pliny of the Papyrus, or *Paper-rush. 1884 Miller Plant-n., Paper-reed, or Paper-rush, of the Nile, or of the Ancients.

1904 Dialect Notes II. 420 Put the apples in a *paper sack. 1940 W. Faulkner Hamlet iii. ii. 207 The note was in pencil, on a scrap torn from a paper sack, unsigned. Ibid. iv. i. 279 Eck had gone on into the store and emerged with a paper sack, from which he took a segment of cheese. 1944 Chicago Daily News 14 July 9/2 She carried a thermos jug of coffee and a couple of sandwiches in a paper sack to eat on the bus. 1955 Times 5 July (Reed Suppl.) p. iii/5 In little more than twenty-five years the development of the multi-wall paper sack, in which Medway Paper Sacks Limited has been largely instrumental, has established new standards of efficiency, convenience and cleanliness in the packaging of powdered and granular products. 1971 ‘R. Macdonald’ Underground Man xi. 74, I..had a double hamburger with a paper sack of French fried potatoes. 1974 S. Marcus Minding Store (1975) ix. 185 A little old lady in shabby clothes, carrying a paper sack instead of a hand⁓bag.

1843 W. Humble Dict. Geol. & Min., Argonauta, the *Paper Sailor. 1901 Daily Chron. 14 Nov. 3/4 The Argonaut or Paper Sailer..so called from the delicate consistence of its shell.

1946 A. Sadler Paper Sculpture 17 *Paper Sculpture..is composed of sheets of finished paper, so rolled, bent, scored, cut and folded, that it makes a desired form. 1957 B. Angrave Sculpture in Paper 24 A legend has already grown up that modern paper sculpture was born in Poland, and is a development of the folk-art paper-cut tradition in that country. 1973 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Starry Bird viii. 111 A fantasia of pure abstract design; a garden of convoluted plastic as fine as paper sculpture. 1978 Cornish Guardian 27 Apr. 33/5 Mrs. Phillips, president, welcomed Mrs. Spargo who gave a talk and demonstration of her paper sculpture.

1877 A. H. Green Phys. Geol. ii. 85 In some very finely laminated rocks as many as 30 or 40 layers may be counted in the thickness of an inch: such beds are..called Paper shales. 1931 Prof. Papers U.S. Geol. Survey No. 168, 7/2 ‘Paper shale’ is the term applied to finely laminated claystones, siltstones, mudstones, and marlstones that show a pronounced tendency to part along the closely spaced bedding planes. 1969 Bennison & Wright Geol. Hist. Brit. Isles xiii. 292 An abundant fauna of ammonites and lamellibranchs is present, except in thin paper-shales.

1884 G. B. Goode Fisheries U.S.: Nat. Hist. Aquatic Animals 776 The terms ‘Soft Crab’, ‘*Paper-shell’, and ‘Buckler’ denote the different stages of consistency of the shell. 1890 Century Dict. s.v., When the shell has hardened..the *paper-shell [crab] becomes a crackler. 1893 K. A. Sanborn Truthf. Wom. S. California 132, 190 California paper-shell almond trees. 1912 Outing Oct. 377/1 The only difference between the so-called ‘paper-shell’ pecan and the fruit from wild trees is that the former has been grown on a budded or grafted tree. 1945 New England Homestead 27 Oct. 20/2 Paper⁓shell pecan in Shell 50¢ per pound. 1948 F. N. Howes Nuts 110 Among the many varieties [of almond] cultivated in France are those that range from the thinnest of shells or ‘paper shells’ to thick hard-shelled forms. 1969 R. & D. De Sola Dict. Cooking 167/2 Papershell: Soft-shell pecan. 1974 Anderson (S. Carolina) Independent 22 Apr. 5A/3 Georgia is the leader in the production of papershell pecans in this country.

1911 Webster, Paper-shelled, a. Having a very thin shell, as a *paper-shelled almond, or a crab whose shell is beginning to harden. 1946 Nat. Geogr. Mag. Apr. 526/2 Immediately after molting the animal [sc. a lobster] is soft-shelled. In a few days it is paper-shelled. 1948 F. N. Howes Nuts 110 It is usual to classify almonds according to the thickness of the shell—thin- or paper-shelled, soft-shelled and thick- or hard-shelled.

1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File xxx. 195 A small machine like a typewriter carriage. It was a *paper shredder. Jay fed the sheet in and pressed a button. It disappeared. 1973 ‘D. Jordan’ Nile Green xiii. 54 The House has an obsession with security so it provides paper shredders on every floor.

1958 S. Hyland Who goes Hang? xxxii. 137 John Wintour's bankruptcy..was now officially expunged..by..the *paper-shredding machines. 1968 A. Diment Bang Bang Birds i. ii. 14, I fed the telex strip into my paper-shredding device.

1647 H. More Song of Soul i. ii. xxxix, The words that he by *paper-stealth had got.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Paper-stock Bleacher,..for expressing the bleaching material from paper-stock, without having recourse to the draining-vat... Paper-stock Washer, a machine for cleansing shredded rags preparatory to pulping.

1930 A. P. Herbert Water Gipsies xxv. 373 It was a Gala Night; and the waiters were distributing *paper streamers, balloons, dolls, squeakers and fans. 1935 C. Isherwood Mr. Norris changes Trains iii. 41 The ruffled plumes of a paper streamer..stirring like seaweed in the draught from an electric fan. 1941 M. Treadgold We couldn't leave Dinah xvii. 266 A box of crackers and paper streamers left over from the famous Carnival. 1969 N. Freeling Tsing-Boum xvi. 117 Broken paper streamers knee deep.

1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. v. 908 Blush not (my book)..To bear about upon thy *paper-Tables [F. paints sur ton blanc papier], Flies, Butterflies, Gnats, Bees, and all the rabbles Of other Insects.

1957 M. B. Picken Fashion Dict. 344/1 *Paper taffeta, crisp lightweight taffeta with a somewhat papery feel. 1963 Times 27 Feb. 12/2 The bride, who was given away by her father, wore a gown of white paper taffeta, the bodice and trained-skirt trimmed with knife-pleated frilling. 1972 Vogue 15 Mar. 3/2 Plaid paper taffeta dress.

1890 Electrician 4 July 233/2 Each of these styles can be pressed against the *paper tape by the armature of a corresponding electromagnet. 1903 C. H. Sewall Wireless Telegr. iii. 133 There is a telegraphic apparatus known as the ‘Wheatstone’, in which a paper ribbon is first perforated and then sent through a machine, recording at the distant end with ink marks upon paper tape. 1924 P. J. Risdon Wireless xvi. 135 When the operator depresses the keys,..instead of typing letters and figures, it perforates the paper tape with holes corresponding to the dots and dashes of the Morse code. 1943 Rep. Progress Appl. Chem. XXVIII. 131 In the standard test for the adhesive power of gummed paper tape the sample is moistened under standard conditions. 1961 Times 3 Oct. (Computer Suppl.) p. vi/4 Each day the paper-tape readers feed into the computer more than nine million characters relating to long-distance calls. 1971 Ann. Rep. Curators Bodl. Libr. 1969–70 45 The correction of records..suffered from rapid changes of the staff operating the paper-tape typewriters. 1975 J. B. Harley O.S. Maps i. 14 The names are then typed on a ‘Monotype’ keyboard which reproduces them on punched paper tape to operate the filmsetter.

1952 ‘Han Suyin’ Many-Splendoured Thing v. 313 America is only a *paper tiger... That's what the Peking government says. 1958 Peking Rev. 11 Nov. 7 In August 1946 Comrade Mao Tse Tung gave an interview to the American journalist Anna Louise Strong and expressed his famous view point that all reactionaries are paper tigers. 1963 Economist 12 Jan. 98/1 In the Chinese view, the ‘rotten, decadent, paper-tiger nature’ of imperialism cannot change. 1973 Black Panther 10 Nov. 14/3 Our minority may be powerful now, but in the end even that power will prove to be a paper tiger once the people unite. 1976 J. Snow Cricket Rebel 25 We [sc. Sussex] were something of paper tigers when it came to the championship games.

1943 D. Baker Trio i. 55 She jerked a *paper towel off the roller and did a careful job of drying. 1953 Times 31 Oct. 1/11 Many paper manufactures, including..paper towels and handkerchiefs. 1972 Guardian 17 May 9/5 Plain coloured paper towels cost 17p for a two-roll pack. 1975 New Yorker 8 Dec. 41/2 The stenographers and typists had to make do with paper towels that scratched when new and dissolved when damp.

1916 Monotype System (Lanston Monotype Machine Co.) Gloss. p. lxvi, *Paper Tower... The mechanism of both the Keyboard and Casting Machine..that carries the paper ribbon and advances it one marginal perforation for each character, or space, struck at the Keyboard or cast at the Casting Machine. Ibid. xi. 35 The operator has only to turn the small Valve Handle..at the left side of the bottom of the Paper Tower. 1922 Casting Machine Adjustments (Lanston Monotype Machine Co.) 17 The Paper Tower is the controlling mechanism of the Casting Machine. In it is placed the paper ribbon prepared at the Keyboard by the compositor, and the ribbon compels the Casting Machine to produce the characters required. Ibid., The Paper Tower mechanism provides that the advance of the paper will be absolute. 1951 S. Jennett Making of Bks. iv. 68 Above the keybank [of the Monotype] is the paper⁓tower, in which is a roll of paper perforated along the edges like cine-film.

1819 E. Evans Pedestrious Tour 228 On this river too is General Simcoe's *paper town called London. 1943 T. Pratt Barefoot Mailman xi. 90 How do we know you are not a paper-town shark yourself? How do we know you have not come here to boom our city to false values? 1948 E. N. Dick Dixie Frontier 151 Many towns..never got beyond the stage of ‘paper towns’. 1957 B. Hutchison Canada: Tomorrow's Giant 307 Logging camps, mills, paper towns, the new aluminium town of Kitimat..pour their products into Vancouver. 1959 Tararua XIII. 49 Paper road and paper town..describe those roads and towns which have been surveyed but whose actual existence has got no further than the maps. 1969 H. Horwood Newfoundland i. 4 Driving back through the star-studded night towards the paper town of Grand Falls.

1839 Ure Dict. Arts 940 Processes..in China to make paper with the inner bark of their *paper-tree..or Chinese mulberry. 1884 Miller Plant-n., Indian Paper-tree, Daphne cannabina and Edgeworthia Gardneri. Ibid., Paper-tree, of Siam, Trophis aspera.

1925 G. Dickinson Eng. Papier-Mâché i. 3 In 1772 Henry Clay, japanner, of Birmingham, invented a material which had certain heat-resisting properties, that made it suitable for japanning or lacquering processes. The body of the material was made by pasting sheets of paper together, and the articles made from it were called ‘*paper ware’. 1969 Canad. Antiques Collector Jan. 8/1 The craze for making ‘Paper-ware’ spread from the 17th to the 19th century, when recipes for making and decorating bowls, vases and plates, were printed in such papers as the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’.

1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Paper-weight, a fancy ornament for keeping loose letters or papers on a table or desk from blowing about. 1893 Q. [Couch] Delectable Duchy 283 He spread the plan on the table, with a paper-weight on each corner.

1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Vn Chassis, a *paper window. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc. Printing 361 The Journey-men..make every Year new Paper Windows, whether the old will serve again or no.

1889 Pall Mall G. 26 Feb. 2/2 We were shown to a clean *paper-windowed room.

1587 Harrison England ii. xv. (1877) i. 268 Many goodlie houses..yet they are rather curious to the eie like *paper worke, than substantiall for continuance. 1599 Broughton's Lett. ix. 32 Euery later paperwork of yours is but a Tautology of the former. 1889 W. Fraser Words on Wellington 136, I have heard it said that a vivâ voce examination is not fair upon a young man; and that, what at Oxford we call ‘paper work’ should be used for military examinations. 1898 F. Harrison in 19th Cent. Nov. 802 Books are tested, precisely like an undergraduate's paper-work. 1900 Daily News 15 Dec. 6/1 The paper work is much above the average, though as yet only the well-educated part of the audience undertakes paper work. 1917 R. Kipling Let. in C. E. Carrington Rudyard Kipling (1955) xvii. 445 Both sides groan together over the enormous amount of unnecessary paper-work. 1958 I. Murdoch Bell viii. 120 Time was badly needed to catch up on the paper work of the previous week. 1961 [see feed-house s.v. feed n. 6]. 1969 J. Argenti Managem. Techniques v. 24 Too much paperwork. Symptoms: masses of complicated forms. 1971 S. Hill Strange Meeting ii. 123 They sat in their dug⁓out in the evening, reading or doing paperwork, listening to the gramophone. 1973 C. Bonington Next Horizon xxi. 290 Back to Base Camp, to start wading through the mass of paper-work which the end of the expedition..entailed. 1977 New Yorker 8 Aug. 68/3 (Advt.), We do the paperwork, you do the legwork.

1841 Douglas in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. No. 9. 246 They reached Mill-Bank *paper-works. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 18 Mar. 2/1 The great paper works at Bermondsey, founded in 1803.

1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 316 Prynne..was one of the greatest *paper worms that ever crept into a closet or library.

▪ II. paper, v.
    (ˈpeɪpə(r))
    [f. prec. n.]
    1. trans. To write or set down on paper; to write about, describe in writing. Also absol. or intr. (quot. 1606). Now rare.

1594 Carew Tasso (1881) 116 Foorthwith then ech ones name is papered. 1606 Warner Alb. Eng. xiv. To Rdr. (1612) 337 Set is the soueraigne Sonne did shine when paperd laste our penne. 1655 Nicholas Papers (Camden) II. 341 How farther to deale with them I will not paper with my sence therein. 1865 F. T. Buckland Curios. Nat. Hist. Ser. iii. (1882) 31 A lady..asked him if he was Robinson Crusoe that Mr. Buckland had papered. 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped 185 I'll have to paper your friend from the lowlands.

    2. To enclose in, put up in, or cover with paper; to stick (pins, etc.) in a sheet or card of paper.

1599 [see papered ppl. a. 1 a]. 1683 Moxon Mech. Ex., Print. xxi. ¶2 The Boy Papers up each sort in a Cartridge by it self. 1718 M. Eales Receipt 6 Put 'em in Pots or Glasses, paper 'em close. 1832 Babbage Econ. Manuf. xix. (ed. 3) 183 A woman gains about 1s. 6d. per day by papering [pins]. 1871 3rd Rep. Dep. Kpr. Irel. 33 The following, being unsuitable for the cartons, have been papered and indorsed.

    3. a. To stick paper upon (a wall, etc.); to furnish or decorate (a room) with paper-hangings. (In quot. 1774 the thing stuck on is the subject of the vb.)

1774 Westm. Mag. II. 95 Bills plaister posts, songs paper ev'ry wall. 1775 Ash, Paper, to adorn with paper, to furnish with paper hangings. 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 170 Walls..may be papered immediately. 1884 G. Allen Philistia I. 164 I've had my room papered again since you saw it last.

    b. To line with paper.

1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xxii. ¶1 Of Papering and Laying the Case. Ibid., The other sides of the Box, he Papers so smooth and tight.

    c. Bookbinding. To paste the end-papers and fly-leaves at the beginning and end of (a volume) before putting on the cover.

1875 Ure's Dict. Arts I. 423 The books..having been..‘folded, collated, placed and sewn’, and afterwards ‘papered’.

    d. to paper out: to exclude by papering.

1855 Mrs. H. A. Ropes Six Months Kansas (1856) 87 We must paper out the cold wind.

    e. Fig. phr. to paper over: temporarily to conceal; esp. in phr. to paper over the cracks (see crack n. 7 f).

1955 Times 16 Nov. 10/5 This document was treated by the western Ministers as no more than an attempt to paper over the complete divergence in policy. 1957 Economist 28 Dec. 1114/2 The party's usual split has been papered over. 1966 J. Deakin Lobbyists 79 Not even the impressive legislative accomplishments under Lyndon Johnson can paper over Congress's serious..frailties. 1969 Sunday Sun (Baltimore) 16 Mar. k 1/3 The two sides were still able to paper over their differences and agree to a compromise program. 1974 Times 6 Apr. 1/2 Mrs Meir has persuaded the party previously to paper over such differences.

    4. a. To supply or furnish with paper.

1883 N.Y. Even. Post 13 May, The paper-manufactures are able to paper the country for a year in..less than a year. 1890 Sat. Rev. 10 May 583/1 Two stately volumes, very handsomely printed, papered, and otherwise got up.

    b. slang. To fill (a theatre, etc.) by means of free passes: see paper n. 4 a.

1859 E. Fitzball 35 Yrs. Dram. Author's Life II. 113 The second night comes, the unfailing ‘Lady of Lyons’... House well papered, but badly gilt—calls similar. 1879 Webster Suppl. s.v., The house is well papered tonight. 1885 Punch 31 Jan. 53/2 When on the first night of a new piece the house is badly ‘papered’, the effect is likely to be fatal. 1897 W. C. Hazlitt Four Gen. Lit. Fam. I. iii. i. 229 The modern practice of papering the theatres was comparatively unknown. 1959 Times 3 Nov. 15/3 ‘Papering a house’ is all very well when a company is playing to empty stalls, but is hardly a good idea when the house is full. 1973 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 26 July 9/5 Surely the theatre could..at least have ‘papered’ the house with complementary guests for the opening if the box office was looking so poorly. 1978 A. Morice Murder by Proxy xx. 155 We should be playing to an audience of approximately thirty-five, about two thirds of it papered.

    5. To treat in any way with paper, e.g. to smooth with sand-paper.

1875 Carpentry & Join. 144 This will scrape down the surface of the wood until it is ready for ‘papering’, i.e. being further smoothed by glass or sand paper.

    6. intr. and trans. To pass forged cheques; to defraud by issuing forged cheques. Also in extended use. U.S. slang.

1925 Flynn's 7 Mar. 191/2 Paper,..to pass worthless or forged checks. 1941 Amer. Speech XVI. 248/2 To paper the burg, to pass a quantity of forged checks. 1958 Daily News (N.Y.) 16 Apr. 60 Helped by phony..credentials and a blonde, a former stable boy..papered Queens and Long Island with $10,000 to $15,000 worth of bum checks. 1976 Scott & Koski Walk-In xi. 63, I want to know that this is Li we're dealing with and not some ringer they've papered on us.

    7. trans. To preserve (insects) by storing them in triangular packets made of folded paper.

[1894 W. F. Kirby Hand-bk. Lepidoptera I. p. lii, Collectors abroad generally put their captures into papers folded to resemble a triangular envelope. Ibid. p. lv, The cheapest way of buying Butterflies is to buy miscellaneous lots at an auction, especially lots in papers.] 1955 Wagstaffe & Fidler Preservation Nat. Hist. Specimens I. 186 Specimens may often have to be stored for considerable periods before they can be set to form part of the permanent collection. The usual method of storing such specimens is to ‘paper’ them.

Oxford English Dictionary