¦ noun
1. a soft mixture of lime with sand or cement and water for spreading on walls and ceilings to form a smooth hard surface when dried.
2. (also plaster of Paris) a hard white substance made by the addition of water to powdered gypsum, used for holding broken bones in place and making sculptures and casts.
3. (also sticking plaster) Brit. an adhesive strip of material for covering cuts and wounds.
dated a bandage on which a poultice is spread for application.
¦ verb
1. cover with plaster; apply plaster to.
2. coat or cover all over with something, especially to an excessive extent: a face plastered in heavy make-up.
display widely and conspicuously: her story was plastered all over the papers.
3. apply a plaster cast to.
4. informal, dated bomb or shell (a target) heavily.
Derivatives
plasterer noun
plastery adjective
Origin
OE, denoting a bandage spread with a curative substance, from med. L. plastrum, from Gk emplastron 'daub, salve'.