Meanings
plural rag papers
- countableuncountablePaper made from the pulp of rags.
1 more example
Four hundred years ago, paper was made from rags (or, technically, the cloth fibers that make up rags). Rag paper sounds like something cheap, but in fact, it’s quite the opposite. In comparison to what we use today, rag paper was downright luscious, often thick and soft to the touch. This is one of the main reasons so many early printed books are missing blank leaves: owners would cut them out to use them for other purposes. A perfectly good piece of expensive paper, just sitting there not being used? What a waste!
2017, J.P. Romney, Rebecca Romney, Printer's Error: Irreverent Stories of Books History, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 6
Translations
Irish páipéar ceirteacha
- páipéar ceirteachapaper made from the pulp of rags
Polish papier ze zużytego włókna
- papier ze zużytego włóknapaper made from the pulp of rags
Swedish lumppapper
- lumppapperpaper made from the pulp of rags
Cite this entry
rag paper. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rag%20paper
“rag paper.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rag%20paper. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rag paper,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rag%20paper.
Source: rag paper on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.