plaster > define

noun

• A mixture of lime or gypsum with sand and water; hardens into a smooth solid; used to cover walls and ceilings.
• Any of several gypsum cements; a white powder (a form of calcium sulphate) that forms a paste when mixed with water and hardens into a solid; used in making molds and sculptures and casts for broken limbs.
  • synonyms: plaster of Paris
• A medical dressing consisting of a soft heated mass of meal or clay that is spread on a cloth and applied to the skin to treat inflamed areas or improve circulation etc..
  • synonyms: poultice, cataplasm
• A surface of hardened plaster (as on a wall or ceiling. )
  • usage: "there were cracks in the plaster"
  • synonyms: plasterwork
• Adhesive tape used in dressing wounds.
  • synonyms: adhesive plaster, sticking plaster

verb

• Apply a heavy coat to.
  • synonyms: plaster over, stick on
• Cover conspicuously or thickly, as by pasting something on.
  • usage: "The demonstrators plastered the hallways with posters"; "She let the walls of the apartment be beplastered with stucco"
  • synonyms: beplaster
• Affix conspicuously.
  • usage: "She plastered warnings all over the wall"
• Apply a plaster cast to.
  • usage: "plaster the broken arm"
• Coat with plaster.
  • usage: "daub the wall"
  • synonyms: daub
• Dress by covering with a therapeutic substance.
  • synonyms: poultice

• (n.) A composition of lime, water, and sand, with or without hair as a bond, for coating walls, ceilings, and partitions of houses. See Mortar.
• (n.) 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.
• (n.) Calcined gypsum or plaster of Paris, especially when ground, as used for making ornaments, figures, moldings, etc.; or calcined gypsum used as a fertilizer.
• (v.t.) Fig.: To smooth over; to cover or conceal the defects of; to hide, as with a covering of plaster.
• (v.t.) To overlay or cover with plaster, as the ceilings and walls of a house.
• (v.t.) To cover with a plaster, as a wound or sore.