plastic

plural plastics · alternative archaic plastick

1. countableuncountableA synthetic, solid, hydrocarbon-based polymer, whether thermoplastic or thermosetting.

   These endocrine disruptors are everywhere: plastics, shampoos, cosmetics, cushions, pesticides, canned foods and A.T.M. receipts. They often aren’t on labels and can be difficult to avoid.

   2021 February 20, Nicholas Kristof, “What Are Sperm Telling Us?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

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   Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field. Dr Mincer and Dr Amaral-Zettler found evidence of them on their marine plastic, too.

   2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845

   Reducing plastic waste is a crucial problem for today’s environment, and whether it’s recyclable and biodegradable phone cases or sustainable fashion, there are plenty of eco-friendly products that can help you reduce your footprint.

   2020 October 22, Kai Burkhardt, “31 eco-friendly products to live sustainably in 2024”, in CNN

2. colloquialcountablemetonymicallyuncountableCredit or debit cards used in place of cash to buy goods and services.

   I knew the war between cash and credit cards was over and plastic had won, hands down, when even Mickey D's started taking credit and debit cards.

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   The surgeon checks your plastic on the phone / a Casio concerto entertains you while you hold

   1990, Fish, “Big Wedge”, in Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors

   It's all about fast cars and cussing each other / but it doesn't matter cause I'm packing plastic / and that's what makes my life so fucking fantastic.

   2008, Lily Allen, “The Fear”, in It's Not Me, It's You

3. countablefigurativelyslanguncountableInsincerity; fakeness.
4. countablefigurativelyslanguncountableA person who is fake or arrogant, or believes that they are better than the rest of the population; a narcissistic, affected person.

   Tessa: Pretty ironic that a box full of rubbers landed me to a town full of plastic.

   2011, Emily Kapnek, Suburgatory

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   Cady: You know I couldn't invite you. I had to pretend to be plastic. Janis: Hey, buddy, you're not pretending anymore. You're plastic. Cold, shiny, hard plastic.

   2004, Rosalind Wiseman, Tina Fey, Mean Girls

5. countableslangAn instance of plastic surgery.

   Somebody's had a plastic done on his nose, I think, or else somebody bent it out of shape since I last saw it.

   1951, Arnold Hano, The Big Out, page 146

6. countableobsoleteuncountableA sculptor, moulder.
7. archaiccountableuncountableAny solid but malleable substance.
8. countableslanguncountableSynonym of Plastic Paddy.

   Synonyms: Plastic Paddy

comparative more plastic · superlative most plastic · alternative archaic plastick

1. Capable of being moulded; malleable, flexible, pliant.First known use 17th c.

   Plastic mud, brownish tinted, rich in floatings.

   1898, Journal of Microscopy, page 256

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   the rage […] betook itself at last to certain missile weapons; which, though from their plastic nature they threatened neither the loss of life or of limb, were, however, sufficiently dreadful to a well-dressed lady.

   ', Folio Society 1973, page 103

   [A]nd it is highly probable that along with more splendid habits of life entered a more lavish use of the gorgeous stores laid open to the plastic powers of fiction.

   1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth

   Man tracks and dog tracks, they left a clear imprint on its plastic surface, and came out on an open beach, stretching a mile away to another headland.

   1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 60

   While a historical woman obviously dwells at the root of this whole phenomenon, her image has been plastic, allowing the Christian imagination to create widely different Marian symbols and theologies in relation to spiritual and social needs.

   2000 June 17, Elizabeth A. Johnson, “Mary of Nazareth: Friend of God and Prophet”, in America, volume 182, number 21

   while the broad pattern of connections between brain regions is similar in every healthy human brain, their details – their number, size and strength – are thought to underpin our individuality, as synapses are ‘plastic’, shaped by experience.

   2012, Adam Zeman, ‘Only Connect’, Literary Review, number 399

   Synonyms: malleable, flexible, pliant, ductile, fictile, formable, moldable, sequacious · Antonyms: elastic

2. archaicmedicineProducing tissue.First known use 17th c.
3. datedCreative, formative.First known use 17th c.

   See plastic Nature working to this end.

   1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC

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   Benign Creator! let thy plastic hand dispose its own effect

   1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)

4. biologyCapable of adapting to varying conditions; characterized by environmental adaptability.First known use 19th c.
5. Of or pertaining to the inelastic, non-brittle, deformation of a material.First known use 19th c.
6. Made of plastic.First known use 20th c.

   A green plastic watering can / For a fake Chinese rubber plant / In a fake plastic earth / That she bought from a rubber man / In a town full of rubber plans / To get rid of itself

   1995, Radiohead, “Fake Plastic Trees”, in The Bends

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   A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.

   1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

7. derogatoryfigurativelyInferior or not the real thing.First known use 20th c.

   The Hippie has been replaced by the pseudo-Hippie, the plastic Hippie, the weekend Hippie

   1969, Lowell D. Streiker, The gospel of irreligious religion, page 83

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   People always try to say that we're garage rock, but that scene is so plastic. Some dude in a band has tight jeans, dyed black hair, and a starving girlfriend with bangs, and people call it indie rock. It's so gross.

   2007, Daniel Sinker, We owe you nothing: Punk Planet: the collected interviews, page 238

   Frustrated by a globalized music industry force-feeding them plastic pop music, hackers, remixers, and activists began to mobilize...

   2008, Matt James Mason, The pirate's dilemma: how youth culture is reinventing capitalism

   Synonyms: ersatz

8. figurativelyinformalFake, insincere, especially in a shallow and conformist way pretending to smoothness and glossy flawlessness.

   We're plastic but we'll still have fun!

   2009, Lady Gaga, Paparazzi

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   He kissed the white woman once, and it was so artificial, so plastic (that's the word, plastic) that one wondered why did they bother at all.

   1966, Calvin C. Hernton, White papers for white Americans, page 67

   Then go home and check yourself / You think we're singing 'bout someone else… / But you're plastic people / You gotta go

   1967, “Plastic People”, in Frank Zappa (music), Absolutely Free, performed by The Mothers of Invention

   Plastic people with plastic minds / Are on their way to plastic homes

   1971, Gil Scott-Heron, “Lady Day and John Coltrane”, in Pieces of a Man

   In fact it seems as though there are two kinds of people in the world: real people and plastic people, as the Flower Children used to say.

   1973, Eric Berne, What do you say after you say hello?, page 120

   But I don't think she would be happy in Los Angeles — it's so plastic and cheap and they expect the women to be whores to get anywhere.

   2006, Catherine Coulter, Born to Be Wild, page 71

   Synonyms: fake, insincere · Antonyms: genuine, sincere

9. informalbiologyEscaped from captivity, rather than wild.

   A superb — and apparently wild, not plastic — Baikal Teal was located at RSPB Greylake in Somerset[.]

   2024 January 14, Ian Reid, “South Aussie birding on the other side of the world”, in The Feathered Variety (blog), archived from the original on 14 Jan 2024

10. informalbiologyIntroduced, rather than native or naturally vagrant.

    I was checking into my motel while a Red-whiskered Bulbul called outside – a Queensland plastic rarity which was somewhat amusing.

    2018 August 12, Corwin Caelin, “The bucket list – a Wallaby and a Wombat – part 1”, in Go Birding (blog), archived from the original on 23 Aug 2018