PLASTER • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Plaster

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/plˈæstər/ Listen

noun

Plaster n. (Formerly written also plaister)

1.

(Med.) An external application of a consistency harder than ointment, prepared for use by spreading it on linen, leather, silk, or other material. It is adhesive at the ordinary temperature of the body, and is used, according to its composition, to produce a medicinal effect, to bind parts together, etc.; as, a porous plaster; sticking plaster.

2.

A composition of lime, water, and sand, with or without hair as a bond, for coating walls, ceilings, and partitions of houses. See Mortar.

3.

Calcined gypsum, or plaster of Paris, especially when ground, as used for making ornaments, figures, moldings, etc.; or calcined gypsum used as a fertilizer.

Plaster cast, a copy of an object obtained by pouring plaster of Paris mixed with water into a mold.

Plaster of Paris. (Chem.) Anhydrous calcium sulphate, or calcined gypsum, which forms with water a paste which soon sets or hardens, and is used for casts, moldings, etc. The term is loosely applied to any plaster stone or species of gypsum.

Plaster of Paris bandage (Surg.), a bandage saturated with a paste of plaster of Paris, which on drying forms a perfectly fitting splint.

Plaster stone, any species of gypsum. See Gypsum.

verb

Plaster v. t. (past & past part. plastered; pres. part. plastering)

1.

To cover with a plaster, as a wound or sore.

2.

To overlay or cover with plaster, as the ceilings and walls of a house.

3.

Fig.: To smooth over; to cover or conceal the defects of; to hide, as with a covering of plaster.

See images of 'Plaster'

Etymology of 'Plaster'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Plaster" Quotes from Famous Books

... isn't any lath and plaster to the cottage, but it's good and tight except in very bad ...

— In Apple-Blossom Time - A Fairy-Tale to Date • Clara Louise Burnham

... a damp course of tarred felt, which cannot possibly last more than a few years, was inserted about a foot from the ground. Then the wall, being quite insufficient to stand the heavy drift of weather to which it is exposed, was dabbled over with two coatings of plaster on the outside, the outermost being given a primitive picturesqueness by means of a sham surface of rough-cast pebbles and white-wash, while within, to conceal the rough discomfort of the surface, successive coatings of plaster, and finally, paper, ...

— Anticipations - Of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon - Human life and Thought • Herbert George Wells

... inch. Not another board proved loose,—to lift those which were nailed down required tools, and those we were without. We sounded all the walls,—with the exception of the party walls they were the usual lath and plaster constructions, and showed no signs of having been tampered with. The ceilings were intact; if anything was concealed in them it must have been there some time, —the cement was old and dirty. We took the closet ...

— The Beetle - A Mystery • Richard Marsh

... no room for doubt as to the identity and the sex. Professor Junker has described[27] an interesting series of variations of these practices. In two graves the bodies were covered with a layer of stucco plaster. First the corpse was covered with a fine linen cloth: then the plaster was put on, and modelled into the form of the body (p. 252). But in two other cases it was not the whole body that was covered with this layer of stucco, ...

— The Evolution of the Dragon • G. Elliot Smith

... ceremony to the village, they are received with sobs and tears of joy by the women, as if the grave had given up its dead. At first the young men keep their eyes rigidly closed or even sealed with a plaster of chalk, and they appear not to understand the words of command which are given them by an elder. Gradually, however, they come to themselves as if awakening from a stupor, and next day they bathe and wash off the crust of white ...

— The Golden Bough - A study of magic and religion • Sir James George Frazer

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