The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Paper \Pa"per\ (p[=a]"p[~e]r), n. [F. papier, fr. L. papyrus
papyrus, from which the Egyptians made a kind of paper, Gr.
pa`pyros. Cf. Papyrus.]
1. A substance in the form of thin sheets or leaves intended
to be written or printed on, or to be used in wrapping. It
is made of rags, straw, bark, wood, or other fibrous
material, which is first reduced to pulp, then molded,
pressed, and dried.
[1913 Webster]
2. A sheet, leaf, or piece of such substance.
[1913 Webster]
3. A printed or written instrument; a document, essay, or the
like; a writing; as, a paper read before a scientific
society.
[1913 Webster]
They brought a paper to me to be signed. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
4. A printed sheet appearing periodically; a newspaper; a
journal; as, a daily paper.
[1913 Webster]
5. Negotiable evidences of indebtedness; notes; bills of
exchange, and the like; as, the bank holds a large amount
of his paper.
[1913 Webster]
6. Decorated hangings or coverings for walls, made of paper.
See Paper hangings, below.
[1913 Webster]
7. A paper containing (usually) a definite quantity; as, a
paper of pins, tacks, opium, etc.
[1913 Webster]
8. A medicinal preparation spread upon paper, intended for
external application; as, cantharides paper.
[1913 Webster]
9. pl. Documents establishing a person's identity, or status,
or attesting to some right, such as the right to drive a
vehicle; as, the border guard asked for his papers.
[PJC]
Note: Paper is manufactured in sheets, the trade names of
which, together with the regular sizes in inches, are
shown in the following table. But paper makers vary the
size somewhat.
[1913 Webster]
[1913 Webster]
Note: In the manufacture of books, etc., a sheet, of whatever
size originally, is termed, when folded once, a folio;
folded twice, a quarto, or 4to; three times, an octavo,
or 8vo; four times, a sextodecimo, or 16mo; five times,
a 32mo; three times, with an offcut folded twice and
set in, a duodecimo, or 12mo; four times, with an
offcut folded three times and set in, a 24mo.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Paper is often used adjectively or in combination,
having commonly an obvious signification; as, paper
cutter or paper-cutter; paper knife, paper-knife, or
paperknife; paper maker, paper-maker, or papermaker;
paper mill or paper-mill; paper weight, paper-weight,
or paperweight, etc.
[1913 Webster]
Business paper, checks, notes, drafts, etc., given in
payment of actual indebtedness; -- opposed to
accommodation paper.
Fly paper, paper covered with a sticky preparation, -- used
for catching flies.
Laid paper. See under Laid.
Paper birch (Bot.), the canoe birch tree (Betula
papyracea).
Paper blockade, an ineffective blockade, as by a weak naval
force.
Paper boat (Naut.), a boat made of water-proof paper.
Paper car wheel (Railroad), a car wheel having a steel
tire, and a center formed of compressed paper held between
two plate-iron disks. --Forney.
Paper credit, credit founded upon evidences of debt, such
as promissory notes, duebills, etc.
Paper hanger, one who covers walls with paper hangings.
Paper hangings, paper printed with colored figures, or
otherwise made ornamental, prepared to be pasted against
the walls of apartments, etc.; wall paper.
Paper house, an audience composed of people who have come
in on free passes. [Cant]
Paper money, notes or bills, usually issued by government
or by a banking corporation, promising payment of money,
and circulated as the representative of coin.
Paper mulberry. (Bot.) See under Mulberry.
Paper muslin, glazed muslin, used for linings, etc.
Paper nautilus. (Zool.) See Argonauta.
Paper reed (Bot.), the papyrus.
Paper sailor. (Zool.) See Argonauta.
Paper stainer, one who colors or stamps wall paper. --De
Colange.
Paper wasp (Zool.), any wasp which makes a nest of
paperlike material, as the yellow jacket.
Paper weight, any object used as a weight to prevent loose
papers from being displaced by wind, or otherwise.
on paper.
(a) in writing; as, I would like to see that on paper.
(b) in theory, though not necessarily in paractice.
(c) in the design state; planned, but not yet put into
practice.
Parchment paper. See Papyrine.
Tissue paper, thin, gauzelike paper, such as is used to
protect engravings in books.
Wall paper. Same as Paper hangings, above.
Waste paper, paper thrown aside as worthless or useless,
except for uses of little account.
Wove paper, a writing paper with a uniform surface, not
ribbed or watermarked.
paper tiger, a person or group that appears to be powerful
and dangerous but is in fact weak and ineffectual.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Wall \Wall\, n. [AS. weall, from L. vallum a wall, vallus a
stake, pale, palisade; akin to Gr. ? a nail. Cf. Interval.]
[1913 Webster]
1. A work or structure of stone, brick, or other materials,
raised to some height, and intended for defense or
security, solid and permanent inclosing fence, as around a
field, a park, a town, etc., also, one of the upright
inclosing parts of a building or a room.
[1913 Webster]
The plaster of the wall of the King's palace. --Dan.
v. 5.
[1913 Webster]
2. A defense; a rampart; a means of protection; in the
plural, fortifications, in general; works for defense.
[1913 Webster]
The waters were a wall unto them on their right
hand, and on their left. --Ex. xiv. 22.
[1913 Webster]
In such a night,
Troilus, methinks, mounted the Troyan walls. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
To rush undaunted to defend the walls. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
3. An inclosing part of a receptacle or vessel; as, the walls
of a steam-engine cylinder.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Mining)
(a) The side of a level or drift.
(b) The country rock bounding a vein laterally. --Raymond.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Wall is often used adjectively, and also in the
formation of compounds, usually of obvious
signification; as in wall paper, or wall-paper; wall
fruit, or wall-fruit; wallflower, etc.
[1913 Webster]
Blank wall, Blind wall, etc. See under Blank, Blind,
etc.
To drive to the wall, to bring to extremities; to push to
extremes; to get the advantage of, or mastery over.
To go to the wall, to be hard pressed or driven; to be the
weaker party; to be pushed to extremes.
To take the wall. to take the inner side of a walk, that
is, the side next the wall; hence, to take the precedence.
"I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's."
--Shak.
Wall barley (Bot.), a kind of grass (Hordeum murinum)
much resembling barley; squirrel grass. See under
Squirrel.
Wall box. (Mach.) See Wall frame, below.
Wall creeper (Zool.), a small bright-colored bird
(Tichodroma muraria) native of Asia and Southern Europe.
It climbs about over old walls and cliffs in search of
insects and spiders. Its body is ash-gray above, the wing
coverts are carmine-red, the primary quills are mostly red
at the base and black distally, some of them with white
spots, and the tail is blackish. Called also spider
catcher.
Wall cress (Bot.), a name given to several low cruciferous
herbs, especially to the mouse-ear cress. See under
Mouse-ear.
Wall frame (Mach.), a frame set in a wall to receive a
pillow block or bearing for a shaft passing through the
wall; -- called also wall box.
Wall fruit, fruit borne by trees trained against a wall.
Wall gecko (Zool.), any one of several species of Old World
geckos which live in or about buildings and run over the
vertical surfaces of walls, to which they cling by means
of suckers on the feet.
Wall lizard (Zool.), a common European lizard (Lacerta
muralis) which frequents houses, and lives in the chinks
and crevices of walls; -- called also wall newt.
Wall louse, a wood louse.
Wall moss (Bot.), any species of moss growing on walls.
Wall newt (Zool.), the wall lizard. --Shak.
Wall paper, paper for covering the walls of rooms; paper
hangings.
Wall pellitory (Bot.), a European plant (Parictaria
officinalis) growing on old walls, and formerly esteemed
medicinal.
Wall pennywort (Bot.), a plant (Cotyledon Umbilicus)
having rounded fleshy leaves. It is found on walls in
Western Europe.
Wall pepper (Bot.), a low mosslike plant (Sedum acre)
with small fleshy leaves having a pungent taste and
bearing yellow flowers. It is common on walls and rocks in
Europe, and is sometimes seen in America.
Wall pie (Bot.), a kind of fern; wall rue.
Wall piece, a gun planted on a wall. --H. L. Scott.
Wall plate (Arch.), a piece of timber placed horizontally
upon a wall, and supporting posts, joists, and the like.
See Illust. of Roof.
Wall rock, granular limestone used in building walls. [U.
S.] --Bartlett.
Wall rue (Bot.), a species of small fern (Asplenium
Ruta-muraria) growing on walls, rocks, and the like.
Wall spring, a spring of water issuing from stratified
rocks.
Wall tent, a tent with upright cloth sides corresponding to
the walls of a house.
Wall wasp (Zool.), a common European solitary wasp
(Odynerus parietus) which makes its nest in the crevices
of walls.
[1913 Webster]