Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Plaster

Plas′ter (plȧs′tẽr), n. [AS., a plaster (in sense 1), fr. L. emplastrum, Gr. ἔμπλαστρον, ἔμπλαστον, fr. ἐμπλάσσειν to daub on, stuff in; ἐν in + πλάσσειν to mold: cf. OF. plastre a plaster (in sense 2), F. plâtre. Cf. Plastic, Emplaster, Piaster.] [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. [So called because originally brought from a suburb 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.

Plas′ter, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Plastered; p. pr. & vb. n. Plastering.] [Cf. OF. plastrer to plaster (in sense 2), F. plâtrer.] 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. Bale.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.