pasteboard

[ peyst-bawrd, -bohrd ]

noun
  1. a stiff, firm board made of sheets of paper pasted or layers of paper pulp pressed together.

  2. Older Slang. a card, as a visiting card or a playing card.

  1. Older Slang. a ticket, as for the theater.

adjective
  1. made of pasteboard.

  2. unsubstantial, flimsy, or sham.

Origin of pasteboard

1
First recorded in 1540–50; paste + board

Other words from pasteboard

  • pasteboardy, adjective

Words Nearby pasteboard

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use pasteboard in a sentence

  • We adjourned to a nearby restaurant, the Raw Bar Blu, and commandeered a table under the low pasteboard ceiling.

    Ciao, Roma! Hello, Newark! | James Atlas | January 6, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • Mrs. Newbolt was cutting splints for her new sun-bonnet out of a pasteboard box.

    The Bondboy | George W. (George Washington) Ogden
  • One of Yung Pak's favourite toys was a wooden jumping-jack with a pasteboard tongue.

    Our Little Korean Cousin | H. Lee M. Pike
  • She has about as much intention of eloping with him as a little girl might have of eloping with a pasteboard Jim Crow.

    Confidence | Henry James
  • It is a Chinese custom to use, instead of pillows, little stools of bamboo or strong pasteboard.

British Dictionary definitions for pasteboard

pasteboard

/ (ˈpeɪstˌbɔːd) /


noun
    • a stiff board formed from layers of paper or pulp pasted together, esp as used in bookbinding

    • (as modifier): a pasteboard book cover

  1. slang a card or ticket

adjective
  1. flimsy; insubstantial

  2. sham; fake

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012