The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Paint \Paint\ (p[=a]nt), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Painted; p. pr. &
   vb. n. Painting.] [OE. peinten, fr. F. peint, p. p. of
   peindre to paint, fr. L. pingere, pictum; cf. Gr. poiki`los
   many-colored, Skr. pi[,c] to adorn. Cf. Depict, Picture,
   Pigment, Pint.]
   1. To cover with coloring matter; to apply paint to; as, to
      paint a house, a signboard, etc.
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            Jezebel painted her face and tired her head. --2
                                                  Kings ix. 30.
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   2. Fig.: To color, stain, or tinge; to adorn or beautify with
      colors; to diversify with colors.
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            Not painted with the crimson spots of blood. --Shak.
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            Cuckoo buds of yellow hue
            Do paint the meadows with delight.    --Shak.
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   3. To form in colors a figure or likeness of on a flat
      surface, as upon canvas; to represent by means of colors
      or hues; to exhibit in a tinted image; to portray with
      paints; as, to paint a portrait or a landscape.
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   4. Fig.: To represent or exhibit to the mind; to describe
      vividly; to delineate; to image; to depict; as, to paint a
      political opponent as a traitor.
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            Disloyal?
            The word is too good to paint out her wickedness.
                                                  --Shak.
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            If folly grow romantic, I must paint it. --Pope.
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   Syn: To color; picture; depict; portray; delineate; sketch;
        draw; describe.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Painting \Paint"ing\, n.
   1. The act or employment of laying on, or adorning with,
      paints or colors.
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   2. (Fine Arts) The work of the painter; also, any work of art
      in which objects are represented in color on a flat
      surface; a colored representation of any object or scene;
      a picture.
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   3. Color laid on; paint. [R.] --Shak.
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   4. A depicting by words; vivid representation in words.
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   Syn: See Picture.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

painting
    n 1: graphic art consisting of an artistic composition made by
         applying paints to a surface; "a small painting by
         Picasso"; "he bought the painting as an investment"; "his
         pictures hang in the Louvre" [syn: painting, picture]
    2: creating a picture with paints; "he studied painting and
       sculpture for many years"
    3: the act of applying paint to a surface; "you can finish the
       job of painting faster with a roller than with a brush"
    4: the occupation of a house painter; "house painting was the
       only craft he knew" [syn: painting, house painting]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

52 Moby Thesaurus words for "painting":
   acrylic painting, aquarelle, calcimining, canvas, coating,
   coloring, covering, drawing, easel-picture, enameling,
   encaustic cerography, encaustic painting, finger painting,
   flower painting, fresco, fresco painting, genre painting, gilding,
   glazing, glossing, gouache, graphic artist, graphic arts, graphics,
   grisaille, illumination, illustration, impasto, japanning,
   monochrome, mural painting, oil, oil painting, photography,
   picturization, portraiture, poster painting, priming, printing,
   printmaking, relief-carving, shellacking, staining, stippling,
   tempera, the brush, undercoating, varnishing, wash, wash drawing,
   water, whitewashing



The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):

PAINTING, n.  The art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather and
exposing them to the critic.
    Formerly, painting and sculpture were combined in the same work:
the ancients painted their statues.  The only present alliance between
the two arts is that the modern painter chisels his patrons.