pap

1 [pap]
noun
1.
soft food for infants or invalids, as bread soaked in water or milk.
2.
an idea, talk, book, or the like, lacking substance or real value.

Origin:
1400–50; late Middle English; a nursery word akin to Dutch pap, German Pappe, Latin, Italian pappa

pap·like, adjective


2. drivel, balderdash, twaddle.
Dictionary.com Unabridged

pap

2 [pap]
noun Chiefly Dialect.
1.
a teat; nipple.
2.
something resembling a teat or nipple.

Origin:
1150–1200; Middle English pappe; compare dialectal Norwegian, Swedish pappe, Latin papilla (see papilla), Lithuanian pãpas, all from a base *pap-; akin to pap1

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To pap
00:10
Pap is always a great word to know.
So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
Collins
World English Dictionary
pap1 (pæp) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  any soft or semiliquid food, such as bread softened with milk, esp for babies or invalids; mash
2.  (South African) porridge made from maize
3.  worthless or oversimplified ideas; drivel: intellectual pap
 
[C15: from Middle Low German pappe, via Medieval Latin from Latin pappāre to eat; compare Dutch pap, Italian pappa]

pap2 (pæp) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  dialect (Scot), (Northern English) a nipple or teat
2.  a.  something resembling a breast or nipple, such as (formerly) one of a pair of rounded hilltops
 b.  (capital as part of a name): the Pap of Glencoe
 
[C12: of Scandinavian origin, imitative of a sucking sound; compare Latin papilla nipple, Sanskrit pippalaka]

pap3 (pæp) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
vb , -ps, -ping, -ped
(of the paparazzi) to follow and photograph (a famous person)
 
[C20: from paparazzo]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

pap
"soft food for infants," c.1430, from O.Fr. papa "watered gruel," from L. pappa, a widespread word in children's language for "food" (e.g. M.H.G., Du. pap, Ger. Pappe), imitative of an infant's noise when hungry; possibly associated with pap (2) (q.v.). Meaning "over-simplified idea" first recorded 1548.

pap
"nipple of a woman's breast," c.1200, first attested in Northern and Midlands writing, probably from a Scand. source (not recorded in O.N., but cf. dial. Swed. pappe), from PIE imitative base *pap- "to swell" (cf. L. papilla "nipple," papula "a swelling, pimple;" Lith. papas "nipple").
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

pap (pāp)
n.
Soft or semiliquid food, as for infants.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
FOLDOC
Computing Dictionary

PAP definition


1. Password Authentication Protocol.
2. Printer Access Protocol.
(1996-03-23)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © Denis Howe 2010 http://foldoc.org
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American Heritage
Abbreviations & Acronyms
Pap
  1. Papanicolao smear

  2. Papanicolao test

PAP
  1. Password Authentication Protocol

  2. peroxidase antiperoxidase complex

  3. pulmonary artery pressure

The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Example sentences
They are smoking less and taking more preventive tests such as mammograms and pap smears.
Depending upon your spiritual outlook, this statement is either a profound truth or sentimental pap.
But pap smears allow precancerous lesions to be treated before they become cancerous.
Pap smears effectively spot such changes, but they must be done regularly.
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