pap

plural paps

1. uncountableFood in the form of a soft paste, often a porridge, especially as given to very young children.

   Pap can be made from bread boiled in milk or water.

2. colloquialuncountablePablum or nonsense.
3. South AfricacountableuncountablePorridge.

   Pap and wors are traditionally eaten at a braai.

4. AfricaNigeriaWestcountableuncountableA fermented cereal pudding made from corn, sorghum, or millet
5. countablederogatoryinformaluncountableSupport from official patronage.

   Treasury pap

6. countableuncountableThe pulp of fruit.

   A child's head is naturally as soft as the pap of an apple.

   1761, [Laurence Sterne], chapter XVI, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume III, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC, page 72

   1 more example

   I hold it not amisse to take Pills in the pap of a rosted apple.

   1633, James Hart, The Diet of the Diseased

present singular third person paps · participle present papping · participle past papped · past papped

1. obsoletetransitiveTo feed with pap.

   But I'll so pap him up - nothing too dear for him : What a sweet scent he has !

   c. 1619–1623, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Custome of the Countrey”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

plural paps

1. archaicA female breast or nipple.First known use 13th c.

   I took the dagger out and kissed it. / Like a cat’s tongue that daintily laps, / I slipped it in between her paps.

   1907, Aleister Crowley, “Stone of the Philosophers Which Is Hidden in the Mountain of Abiegnus”, in Konx Om Pax, page 87

   3 more examples

   But th'other rather higher did arise, / And her two lilly paps aloft displayd, / And all, that might his melting hart entise / To her delights, she vnto him bewrayd […]

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

   they doe not onely weare jewels at their noses, in their lip and cheekes, and in their toes, but also big wedges of gold through their paps [translating tetins] and buttocks[…].

   1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes […], London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC

   And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 11:27

2. archaicA man's breast.First known use 15th c.

   Adrianus the Emperour made his Physition to marke and take the just compasse of the mortall place about his pap, that so his aime might not faile him, to whom he had given charge to kill him.

   1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 13, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC

3. A rounded, nipple-like hill or peak.

   the paps of Jura

   1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC

plural paps

1. Alternative letter-case form of Pap (“Pap smear”).

comparative more pap · superlative most pap

1. South AfricaslangWeak, feeble; lacking substance.

   His chest hangs like soft tits in his vest. He is pap. I could easily hit him. I could kill him if I wanted to.

   1975, Sheila Roberts, Outside Life's Feast: Short Stories, Johannesburg: Ad. Donker, →ISBN, page 27

2. South AfricaslangSpineless, wet, without character.

   He is so pap and boring.

3. South AfricaslangFlat.

   I got a puncture and the wheel went pap.

plural paps

1. abbreviationclippinginformalClipping of paparazzo.

   As he made his way from the London hotel to his car, the singer threatened to beat up a pap who got in his way.

   2015, “Justin Bieber's top 10's worst moments”, in OK! Magazine

   2 more examples

   We turn back onto the main road and I'm relieved to not see any paps. They've got to be somewhere though. They don't just leave.

   2015, Mira Bailee, Broken Strings

   The only aspect of his mother’s death that he finds unforgettable is the identity of those who caused it: the press and the paps, variously referred to as ghouls, pustules, dogs, weasels, idiots and sadists, who after “torturing” his mother “would come for me”.

   2023 January 17, Tina Brown, “Spare by Prince Harry review – magical thinking in Montecito”, in The Guardian

present singular third person paps · participle present papping · participle past papped · past papped

1. informalusually passive voiceTo take a surreptitious photograph of (someone, especially a celebrity) without their consent.

   Look, that pop star’s been papped in her bikini again!

   2 more examples

   The star of Netflix’s Wednesday, 20-year-old Jenna Ortega (another Gen Z actor) was recently papped holding an iPhone and chuffing on a straight cigarette (the fact that this was a pap photo is all the more throwback).

   2023 June 16, Daisy Jones, “Cool, sexy and stinking of smoke: why are TV dramas giving cigarettes a comeback?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   We know everyone else knew he was a Tier 1 sex offender because when the pair got papped on a walk in Central Park, the New York Post published the picture with a front page headline even Andrew could understand: “PRINCE & PERV”.

   2025 October 17, Marina Hyde, “Punish Prince Andrew? This is no meritocracy, I’m afraid – you get the royal family you didn’t vote for”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

plural paps

1. informalPa; father.

   1 more example

   Pap he hadn't been seen for more than a year, and that was comfortable for me; I didn't want to see him no more. He used to always whale me when he was sober and could get his hands on me; though I used to take to the woods most of the time when he was around. Well, about this time he was found in the river drowned, about twelve mile above town, so people said. They judged it was him, anyway; said this drowned man was just his size, and was ragged, and had uncommon long hair—which was all like pap—but they couldn't make nothing out of the face, because it had been in the water so long it warn't much like a face at all.

   1884, Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

   Synonyms: ayr, ba, baba, da, dad, dada, daddio, daddy

present singular third person paps · participle present papping · participle past papped · past papped

1. InternetAlternative letter-case form of PAP (“post a picture”).

1. abbreviationinitialismSingaporean politicsInitialism of People's Action Party.

   @Gary, are you a PAP agent? ... =) trying to incite rebellion and revolution on this site so that the govt will have an excuse to take down this site?

   Paragraph 4, Public Prosecutor v Yue Mun Yew Gary [2012] SGHC 188

2. SinglishderogatorySingaporean politicsPay And Pay (nickname for the People's Action Party)
3. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of People's Armed Police.

plural PAPs

1. chemistrypolyfluoroalkyl phosphate ester
2. abbreviationinitialismcomputingInitialism of password authentication protocol.
3. abbreviationgrammarAbbreviation of past active participle.
4. abbreviationgrammarAbbreviation of present active participle.
5. abbreviationinitialismhuman sciencesInitialism of principle of alternate possibilities.
6. abbreviationinitialismmedicineInitialism of prostatic acid phosphatase.
7. abbreviationinitialismastronomyInitialism of participatory anthropic principle.
8. abbreviationacronymmedicineAcronym of positive airway pressure.
   1. broadlymedicineA positive airway pressure machine, a PAP device.

alternative pap

1. InternetabbreviationacronymPost a picture.

plural Paps · alternative pap

1. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of Pap smear.

   If you have any abnormal symptoms, such as spotting between periods or bleeding after intercourse, keep pursuing the cause even if your last Pap was normal.

   1996 [1995], Richard N. Podell, William Proctor, Patient Power: How to Protect Yourself from Medical Error, New York, NY: Fireside, →ISBN, page 152

   Synonyms: Pap test